


Push and Pull

by Ellie_Flyer



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Lesbian Character, Violence, Walkers (Walking Dead), Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:01:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23458246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellie_Flyer/pseuds/Ellie_Flyer
Summary: Ellie Grimes hadn't planned for the end of the world, she doubted anyone did, but now with the undead roaming the earth she must fight for her life as well as the people she holds close to her. At first it was just her brother and his wife and son, along with her brothers best friend, but what happens when she meets others who end up meaning the world to her, especially a certain farmers daughter.Ellie must fight not just the dead but also the living as they threaten all that she knows. Will she survive or will she fail? Will she manage to create a life forever herself even with the world gone to hell? or will she succumb to the horrors that now exist?Note:I do not own the walking dead, all rights go to the creators and suchAlso, please do not copy this story anywhere.This story is also posted on Wattpad
Relationships: Maggie Greene/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

When the world went to hell I thought that maybe it would last a few weeks and then some scientist out there would find a cure, that was how it usually went, right? 

That never happened and now the dead roam this world and I can tell you one thing, no matter what you think...what you feel... you're never safe. 

I would come to learn that over time, but I guess in the beginning we were all naive.

My name's Ellie Grimes, I'm 23 years old, Just like my older brother I was a Sheriff's deputy...my brother.

He was shot before the dead started to walk and ended up in a coma, and while I was focused on getting to Carl and Lori, Shane, my brothers best friend, said he would go and try to get to him.

He came back and told me he was dead.

I wanted to break down at that moment, I wanted nothing more than for this to be just some horrible dream, but when I looked at Carl's tearful face I knew I had to be strong.

We had packed as much as we could and then loaded up Shane's car, we thought maybe heading towards Atlanta would be the best bet, but it seemed as though everyone and their mothers had the same idea.

The entire highway was backed up, and it was clear no one was going anywhere anytime soon.

I remember that night though, it was the night I realized things were a lot worse then we thought.

It was night, people were all out of their cars, they were talking to others trying to find out what was going on.

I was in the car with Shane, going through the stations to see if we could hear anything.

Carl was playing checker's with a girl around his age, Sophia, her mother Carol was nice, her father, on the other hand, I didn't like, he gave me a weird feeling. 

It was also obvious he wasn't the kindest of men, I made a note to keep my eye on him. 

The sound of helicopters going by made me peek my head out the car, I stepped out after that, heading to the front of the car " are we gonna go soon?" I heard Sophia ask, " I don't know, baby. I sure hope so." Her mother responded.

Carl took this moment to turn and look at Lori who was sitting on the hood of the car. " I'm hungry." I sighed at this, knowing we didn't bring much. " I know, Carl. We all are." Lori told him, playing with the ring on her necklace.

Carol looked at us all briefly, " Why don't I get him something to eat?" She offered and I sent her a grateful look. " Ed's Into all this survival stuff, we've got enough M.R.E.s to feed a small army" She continued, heading around the car to presumably go get some. " Thank you." I really did appreciate it. 

She moved to the side of the car her husband was on and I could see through the windows of the car that he slammed the door when she tried to open it.

I couldn't hear what they were saying but it ended with Carol moving away from him. I shared a look with Lori and I shook my head before leaning against the car. 

I watched as Lori moved to the driver's side door to talk to Shane. " You getting anything?" She questioned and he shook his head, " There's nothing." At this I let out a small scoff, " No surprise there." I muttered, my hand coming up to run through my hair. 

" No, I mean there's nothing." He spoke and I knew that was far from what we wanted. " What? Everything's just quiet?" I asked, great...just great.

" Emergency broadcast system stopped, and that recording about the refugee center." He got out of the car, " it's all gone." He walked further up the road, " I'm gonna go up the road, see what I can see." He told her and I went to follow him, " I'm coming with you." My tone left no room for argument so he just motioned for me to hurry up. 

" I'll come to." Lori spoke up and went to follow us but Carol stopped her, " Ed must have forgotten to pack those M.R.E.s, but I found these in my purse." She showed us the food in her hand. " Thank you, that's more than enough," I told her with a small smile. 

Lori nodded in agreement, " Listen, Do you mind keeping an eye on Carl for a minute?" Lori asked and Carol shook her head. At that Lori turned her attention to Carl, " listen, the three of us are gonna go scout ahead, see if we can find someone who knows what's going on." She explained, reaching over to run her hand along his face.

" I want to come with you." I expected that to come out of his mouth and I watched as Lori told him no. " We'll be back in a flash," I told my nephew and reached over to pay his shoulder.

With one last look Lori, Shane, and I all started to make our way up the highway. 

Once we were a little bit away I couldn't help but ask, " I can't believe they stopped the broadcast about the refugee center, why would they stop it?" I asked and Shane just said he didn't know, " Think they're turning people away?" Lori kept the topic going.

" If they tried the people would riot." It was true, there would be absolute chaos, more so than there already was.

" Whatever it is, we'll figure something out." I tried to be optimistic, but it was hard to be. 

It was quiet for a bit as we walked, the sound of other people's conversations muddling together into just a buzz if sound. 

A few people turned to look at us when they spotted the sheriff departments logo on my button-up and on Shane's shirt, and I could tell they wanted to stop us, but the sound of explosions made everything come to a halt. 

People were starting to fight now and the three of us picked up the pace. " What do we do here, what do we do?" Lori asked, her voice frantic. " We're gonna do what Rick would have wanted us to do," Shane told her and I couldn't help but clench my fist at the mention of my now deceased brother but I forced myself to relax, now was not the time.

" We're gonna get you and Carl out of here." I finished for him and he sent me a grateful look, " don't worry Lori, we're gonna keep you and your boy safe." I patted her arm gently before my gaze snapped towards the sky.

Helicopters were heading to the city, except they didn't look like your average helicopter, no...those were military.

" Let's go..come on." I told them and we all broke out into run, heading more towards the city.

We ended up in the woods and that was when we saw it.

Atlanta was being bombed, the gasps of everyone around us were but echo's in my ears. " Holy shit." I breathed in disbelief.

All I could hear was a ringing, I was in too much in a daze to even notice my brother's wife being wrapped in his best friends arms. 

By the time we got back everyone was in a panic, but I was just focused now on getting back to my nephew. 

"Carl!" I called out once I was back at the cars. " Aunt Ellie?" I heard him ask from his seat next to Sophia. He hopped off and I wrapped him in a hug. " What happened?" I could hear his voice shake with fear and I pulled away, looking into his eyes that looked so much like his father's.

I could hear Lori and Shane arrive behind me but I didn't turn to look at them, " listen Carl... things aren't looking too great right now, but I just need you to be good while we try to figure things out, alright?" I asked him. 

He was quiet for a moment but ultimately nodded his head, " alright, good." I said before taking a step back to let Lori talk to him.

Shane and I had stepped away from them and I watched as he bit his lip before looking at me. " Ellie, I..I just wanted you to know that." He cleared his throat, no doubt what he was about to say was hard for him, " I tried everything I could to get your brother out, I just couldn't, I wasn't fast enough-" I cut him off with a tight hug.

" I know Shane, I'm not mad at you." I whispered and I felt him return the hug. I pulled away, " all we can do now is keep those two safe." That was my goal, to keep my family safe, which I'm sure was a goal shared by many.

___

We ended up meeting a bunch more people, and we made camp near a quarry, it was the perfect spot to hold up in for the time being.

There was a decent amount of people with us now, and I had gotten to know most of them.

There was the Morales family, they were pretty nice and they had two kids as well. 

I became fast friends with a pizza delivery boy named Glenn, he was really funny and it was nice to have someone so optimistic in the group, and not to mention he was actually around my age.

There were two sisters, Amy and Andrea, they were alright, I talked to Amy more than I talked to Andrea.

T-Dog and I hadn't really had the chance to talk, but he seemed like a good enough guy.

Dale was the one who owned the RV, he also had a rifle of his own which helped.

I carried a shotgun, Shane did to.

Anyways I got along really good with Dale, he was always looking out for everyone, it was like he was the grandfather of the camp.

Then there was Jacqui and Jim, I've only exchanged a few words with both of them, but they both pulled their weight around camp and that was all I could ask.

Then there was the Dixon brothers...many in camp weren't really too fond of them. Merle was a sexist, not to mention racist, asshole, I almost knocked him in his teeth when he started making comments towards Lori and I, thankfully his brother got him to stop.

Daryl Dixon was a mystery I guess you could say, he seemed like his brother, angry, violent, didn't seem to truly care about anyone but his brother. I could tell he wasn't really like that, that unlike his brother he wasn't a complete asshole.

In the small amount of time we've been set up I've mostly been helping out around camp, talking to people, mostly Glenn, and trying to get Daryl to say more than a few words at a time to me, it was a work in progress, but I was getting there.

But for the first time since all this went down I actually had hope, hope that... maybe everything would be ok, oh how wrong I was.


	2. Chapter 2

You Know when I was younger I always thought that by this point in my life I would be doing my job and keeping people safe, and in a way I still am, though the circumstances weren't exactly what I was expecting. 

Saving people from hordes of the undead wasn't exactly in the job description.

Shane and I kept order in the camp, most of the time it was stopping either Merle from being...well Merle, and other times it was making sure Ed didn't get physical with Carol. 

Thankfully though Merle was away, him and a few others had gone off on a supply run in the city, I would have gone with them, but Shane said he needed me here. With Merle away I could at least keep an eye on Ed more easily, I really did not like that man.

Though he wasn't doing anything at the moment so I took this time to wander around camp, my shotgun in hand in case any roamers decided to show their rotting faces. 

Our camp was pretty secluded though, and we haven't really had too many issues.

Dale and Jim were working on the RV, I hoped they manage to fix it up enough in case we need to travel. Lori was unhooking clothes, and I spotted Shane teaching Carl how to tie certain knots, it was nice, the simplicity of it all, if I push the thought that the world is basically at it's end out of my mind, it was almost like we were all just on one big camping trip.

" It's late, they should have been back by now!" My green eyes dart over to where Amy was as she said this and then to Dale as he mentioned worrying wasn't gonna do us any good, that was the end of that conversation. 

The sound of the radio camp crackling was what truly got my attention though as T-Dogs voice came through and we all headed over. Dale climbed the RV and started to try and talked to him, though the reception was bad and he was having a hard time.

What made my stomach drop though, was when T-Dog said they were trapped in the department store. " Goddammit" I cursed and I started to pace.

T-Dog then went on to say they were surrounded by hundreds of geeks.

" T-Dog, repeat that Last. Repeat." Dale said Into the radio, all that came through was static.

" He said the department Store." Lori was the first to speak and we all turned to her. " I heard it too," Dale confirmed. " This is just great." I groaned, bringing my hand up to pinch the bridge of my nose before dropping it back to my side.

" Shane." Lori turned to him and he immediately said no, at this she turned to me and I shook my head, " I want to but that would not be wise." Shane agreed with me, " we can't risk the rest of the group." He tried to reason with her.

" So we're just gonna leave her there?" Amy piped up and I looked at her, I understood what she must be feeling, I felt it with my brother when I didn't know if he would make it... though I hope it doesn't turn out for her the way it did with me.

" Amy I know you don't want to hear this." I tried to say but Amy kept talking, " she volunteered to go, to help the rest of us." Shane took a step closer. " I know, and she knew the risks, right?" It was a rhetorical question as after that he told Amy something I knew she definitely did not want to hear.

" See, if she's trapped, she's gone...So we just have to deal with that. There's nothing we can do"

Amy's sad face morphed into one of anger, " she's my sister, you son of a bitch." She stormed off after she said that and all I could do was watch.

We were all left standing there, not really sure what to do. Lori was the next to walk off, heading after Amy, and I stared at the ground after she left, surprised how Rock's could seem so interesting in moments like this.

I heard Shane make his way over to Carl. I stood there for a few minutes before ultimately deciding to head on top of the RV for watch duty, figuring with Dale working on the engine someone should do it.

___

I was up there for about an hour or two when Dale told me I could take a break. I sent him a grateful look and said my thanks before getting off of the RV to go join Shane, Lori, and Carl.

" I swear this heat is gonna kill me." I groaned as I took a seat, tugging at the collar of my Forest green button-up before ultimately deciding to unbutton it a little. In that moment I regretted wearing a black T-shirt underneath it as well.

I then looked to where Carl was getting a haircut and I grinned at how much he couldn't sit still. 

" Baby, the more you fidget the longer it takes." Lori tried to reason and he just said that he was trying, at the tone of his voice I couldn't help but laugh, " well...try harder." His mother told him as she continued to cut his hair.

Shane took this moment to start speaking, " if you think this is bad, wait till you start shaving. That stings." I knew he was speaking from experience...or more like multiple experiences, I laughed at that and Shane shot me a playful glare from where he was cleaning his shotgun, " you sure you want to laugh at a man with a gun." He teased and I chuckled at that. 

He then turned his attention back to Carl, " That day comes, you'll be wishing for one of your Mama's haircuts." Carl must not have believed him as he gave the typical " I'll believe that when I see it." Response. We all laughed at this and Shane decided to bargain with him. 

" I'll tell you what...you just get through this with some manly dignity and tomorrow I'll teach you something special." That caught Carl's interest and Shane continued, " I..will teach you how to catch frogs." Carl told us that he's caught a frog before and Shane looked at him with amusement in his eyes.

" I said frogs... Plural, and it is an art, my friend, it is not to be taken lightly." He sounded so proud when he said it and I raised an eyebrow, " Shane the frog king, everyone." I said mockingly though with no malice behind it. " Again Ellie, do you really want to tease a man with a gun?" I simply smirked, " I'd like to see you try and shoot me, you don't have the balls." He let out a brief laugh, " we'll see about that. 

"Now as I was saying before Ellie here decided to interrupt me...There are ways and means, few people know about it." He said as he continued to clean his gun, his eyes flickering back to Carl, " I'm willing to share my secrets." He said in such a way as if it was the greatest piece of knowledge in the world. 

Carl turned to look at his mother and she turned his head right back, " oh I'm a girl. You talk to him." Was her excuse.

Shane continued to tempt him, saying that it was a one time offer.

" Why do we need Frog's, plural." The little boy asked, and Shane raised an eyebrow at him, " you ever eat frog legs?" He asked and Carl responded by saying eww. " No Yum!" Shane said and Lori had a look of disgust on her face as she agreed with my nephew. 

" You two are crazy." I butted in and Shane nodded his head at me, " at least someone agrees with me around here." He patted me on the shoulder.

" When we get down to that last can of beans, you're gonna be loving those Frog legs, lady." Lori didn't look too convinced at that. Shane took it a step further though and brought his voice up to a higher pitch, " Shane, do you think I could have a second helping, please. Please, just one?" He said doing a very terrible impression of Lori and she gave him a smile of disbelief, " yeah I doubt that." She said.

" Don't listen to her man, you and me, we'll be Heroes. We'll feed these folks Cajun-style Kermit Legs, your aunt Ellie will help to." I just shook my head, a smile still adorning my face, " as much as I want to, I'll leave the frog hunting to you two." I then turned to Lori as she said she would rather eat miss Piggy and I felt my eyes widen a little, " yes that came out wrong." She added.

Shane went on to talk a little more but the sound of a car alarm got everyone's attention...after all, it was a little hard to ignore.

" What in the world?" I asked as we all got up and headed over to Dale. " You see anything?" I called up to him and he said he couldn't tell.

" Is it them? Are they back?" Amy asked but no one answered her. 

" What is it?" I asked, " A stolen car is my guess." I didn't know how to respond to that but thankfully I didn't have to as a red sports car came driving in from around the corner. 

Once it was parked Glenn hopped out of it looking all too pleased with himself while me and Shane went to pop the hood. 

" Holy crap turn that thing off." Dale told the delivery boy and Glenn said he didn't know-how. " Pop the hood please?" Shane asked at the same time Amy started to bombard the boy with questions.

Everyone was talking over everyone but Glenn finally managed to get out that everyone was ok. I pulled the wire and sighed in relief as the alarm stopped. 

" Listen everyone is fine...well Merle not so much." I furrowed my eyebrows at that, what in the hell did that asshole do now? 

" Are you crazy, driving this wailing bastard up here?" Shane asked, " are you trying to draw every Walker for miles?" Glenn had the decency to look sheepish at this. Dale looked around before saying that he thought we were okay. 

" You call being stupid okay?" Shane turned on him. " Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills, hard to pinpoint the source." He tried to reason, " he has a point Shane," I said quietly to him. Dale turned to Glenn now, " it wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?" Glenn glanced around at everyone before apologizing, " got a cool car." He said and I had to refrain from letting out a laugh. 

We all heard a truck pulling up and as everyone was heading a bit towards that I walked over to Glenn and nudged him, " it is a cool car...but do you have any idea how many charges I could give you for this " I said playfully, hoping to make him feel better and I succeeded as he gave me a small smile.

Everyone started to get out of the truck and I watched as Andrea and Amy ran and embraced each other, same with Morales and his family. A smile was on everyone's face as they watched everyone reunite with their loved ones. 

I felt a twinge of sadness though,m as I was reminded again of how I would never get to see my brother again. 

I watched as Lori took Carl away, the two no doubt feeling what I was.

" How did y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asked. " New guy..he got us out." Glenn explained and I tilted my head, " New guy?" I asked in confusion.

" Yeah, crazy vato just got into town." Morales butted in. " Hey, helicopter Boy! Come say hello!" He yelled towards the truck before turning to is, " guys a cop, just like you two." He continued and I took that moment to look towards our new member-only to feel my heart stop.

All of the air in me seemed to leave my body as I stared at the man I thought was dead. " Rick..." I breathed out, I wanted to him, to wrap my arms around him and never let go, but it was like I was glued to the spot.

By now Carl and Lori had spotted him and the family rushed to embrace each other. I felt my face break out into a smile as tears formed in my eyes, though this time I didn't try to hold them back. 

Though I felt a twinge of confusion when Lori sent Shane a slightly panicked look. What in the hell was that for....no, it couldn't have been that, they wouldn't do that to my brother. I didn't want to dwell on it so I forced myself to take a step towards the family. 

Rick locked eyes with me, blue meeting green as he motioned for me to come over there. I was over there and wrapping my arms around them before anyone could blink, " You're alive." I breathed, my tears staining his shirt. I felt him run his hand up and down my back, " I'm never gonna leave you guys." He whispered back.

At that moment I had all I wanted, My family.


	3. Chapter 3

That night we were all sitting by the fire, just enjoying each other's company. It had been a good day, the members of our group got back safe, well except for Merle, Glenn got a new car, and most importantly my family was brought back together. 

I was sitting right by Rick, Lori on his other side and Carl in his arms. I kept wanting to pinch myself, to make sure this isn't some dream my mind decided to make up. Though from the small pain I got from the first time I did it proved that this was all actually happening.

" Disoriented." My brother broke the peaceful silence we had all been sitting in. " I guess that comes closest." I would have been surprised if he hasn't felt that way when he saw how the world had ended up.

" Disoriented...fear, confusion, all those things but... disoriented comes closest." The rumbling of thunder echoed in the air and I glanced up, feeling the light droplets splash against my skin. 

" Words can be meager things, sometimes they fall short" Dale said wisely as he placed his cup down

" I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else" I frowned at this but continued to listen, " For awhile I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever." 

I sent him a soft gaze as I leaned my head against his shoulder, " You found is though Rick...and Trust me I've pinched myself enough times and I can assure you this isn't a dream." I whispered softly into the night air and I felt his chest rumble a bit as a soft laughter slipped through his lips.

" Mom said you died." My eyes flickered down to Carl and a sad look flashed across my face. 

Rick simply smiled down at his only son, " She had every reason to believe that." He was right, after all that was what Shane told us. " Don't you ever doubt it." Carl then looked over to me, " Aunt Ellie helped get us out, Shane to." And I reached over and patted his arm. Rick shot us both a grateful look and no words were necessary.

" When things started to get really bad, they told me at the hospital that they were gonna medevac you and the other patients to Atlanta." Lori said, retailing what we had all thought was gonna happen to Rick. 

" It never happened." I finished for her, my voice from, even though none of that mattered now as he was right next to me. 

" Well, I'm not surprised after Atlanta Fell, and from the looks of that hospital, it got overrun." I hadn't even realized that, the hospital must have been full of those things, it was a miracle that Rick was even standing here. 

" Yeah, looks don't deceive, we barely got them out." Shane's voice came from across the fire and I looked at him. 

" I can't tell you how grateful I am to you Shane, to both of you." He looked between the two of us, " We wouldn't let anything happen to them." I reassured and I leaned forward a bit, grabbing my cup of water and taking a sip. 

" There go those words falling short again. Paltry things" Dale joked and I grinned partly. 

My attention was soon drawn to the other fire a little bit away as Ed but more wood in to make his fire Bigger.

" Hey Ed, you want to take that Log out?" I called over, sitting up fully.

" It's cold." Was all the man said and I ran my hand through my hair, feeling the frustration building in me.

" The cold don't change the rules, does it?" Shane said, backing me up.

" Keep our fires low, just embers, that way nothing can see us from a distance." I said, repeating the rule we had all agreed on.

" I said it it's cold, you should mind your own business for once." That man really didn't know how to listen.

Shane and I had the same idea as we both got up from our seats and headed over to the family.

"Hey Ed." Shane said as he passed by the man, patting his shoulder while I only shot him a small glare.

We came to a stop in front of him and I spoke in a quiet voice, " do you really want to have this talk right now?" 

Ed simply stared at me for a moment before relenting, " Go on. Pull the damn thing out." He commanded and I furrowed my eyebrows, " Go on!" His voice got harsher and I watched as Carol got up from her seat and headed to the fire.

" Christ." I heard Shane mutter to himself and I couldn't help but agree, this was just wrong. 

Though it wasn't like we could do anything, Ed would most likely start a fight and I don't think anyone wanted a confrontation at the moment, though that didn't stop me from wishing I could knock some sense into the asshole. 

Once she pulled it out She return to her seat and Shane started to stomp on the fire that spring up.

While he was doing this I kneeled down in front of Sophia and Carol, " Hey...how are you two doing tonight?" I questioned and Carol was quick to say they were fine and I slowly nodded, " alright." 

" I'm sorry about the fire." She tried to apologise and Shane cut her off but nod in a rude way, " no no no, no apology needed." He said to them. " Yeah really, it's fine " I also reassured them.

" You all have a good night though, alright?" I asked and Carol briefly nodded and thanked us. 

" We appreciate the cooperation." Shane said a bit Sarcastically to Ed as we walked past him to return to everyone else.

I took my seat just as Dale started to talk again. " Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon?" He asked and my eyes widened briefly, Daryl had gone on a hunting trip around the same time Merle and the rest left, and that means he had no idea about his brother, and that also meant we would have to tell him...yeah I was not looking forward to that. 

" He's not gonna be happy to hear about his brother." I said the words with dread, already knowing telling him wasn't gonna go well.

T-Dog offered to tell him as he was the one to drop the key but Rick was quick to say since he was the one to cuff him he should tell Daryl 

" Guys, it's not a competition." Glenn said to them, " and I don't need to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy.

Amy proposed that we could Lie but her sister said that we should tell the truth and that Merle was out of control. 

" I mean if Merle got left behind it's no one's fault but his." I added watching as everyone agreed to what I said, though Dale wasn't to sure that was the right thing to tell Daryl.

" Word to the wise...we are gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt." The older man said and we all knew he was right.

T-Dog decided to let us know that he had stopped long enough to chain the door and I tilted my head at him. " So...your saying Dixon's alive on that roof?" I asked just to confirm what I was hearing and I let out a disbelieving breath when he nodded at me before getting up from his seat, " he's up there still and that's on us." Were his parting words and those hung heavy in the air.

It didn't take to long for people to start heading off to bed, and with one last goodnight to everyone I headed off to my tent.

I sat down on the small cot and sighed, it had been a long day and I couldn't help as I finally felt the exhaustion set in and I let out a small yawn. 

I didn't bother to fight sleep, instead opting to lay down and close my eyes and I was asleep within minutes.

_____

The next morning everyone was up and about, all doing there own thing. I was currently standing next to Glenn, watching as his car was being taken apart, and I was also trying not to laugh as Glenn looked like a pouting ten year old in that moment.

I heard footsteps come up behind us and I looked to see that Rick had joined us. " Look at them, Vultures." Glenn said, his arms crossed so now he really did look like a pouting child and I sniggered at him.

" Yeah, go on, strip it clean." This time I didn't even try and bother to hide my laughter and nudged me. 

" Generators need every drop of fuel they can get." Dale said apologetically, " Got no power without it. Sorry, Glenn." He patted the boys back in consolation before walking off.

" I thought I'd get to drive it at least a few more days." Glenn muttered. "Maybe you'll get to steal another one." I said trying to reassure him, but I know for sure that I never thought those words would ever come out of my mouth, especially about a car. The irony was not lost on Rick as he shook his head fondly before heading off over to where Lori was.

I talked to Glenn for a little bit longer until I heard Shane's Jeep drive by. 

" Water's here, y'all." He turned off the engine and got out, " just a reminder to boil before use." After that people started to unload the water, no doubt needing it for something. 

The sound of screaming cut through the air like a knife and I head Carl's voice call out. 

I grabbed my shotgun from where it was resting besides me and I rushed in the direction of the screams. 

Shane, Rick, Glenn, Morales, and myself, along with a few others all rushed through the pushes only to come to a slow stop as we spotted what had scared the kids.

It was a walker, all hunched over and eating a deer. I took note of the arrows sticking out of the animal and figured Daryl had been hunting it and he was probably close by, though I saw no sign of the hunter.

The Walker must have heard us as it staggered to it's feet and turned to us, letting out a growl. Rick was the first to react and knocked it in the head with his weapon but that didn't seem to do much. Next I hit it with the butt of my gun, and that was when everyone started to hit it with their weapons.

No matter how much we hit it the damn thing just kept trying to get up. 

Dale ended up cutting the damn things head off and the Walker finally stopped moving. 

We were all breathing heavily and I reached up to wipe the beads of sweat from my forehead. 

" That's the first one we've had up here" Dale was the first to break the silence. 

He shook his head and motioned to the Walker, " They never come this far up the mountain." And it was true, they never did.

" Well they're running out of things to eat in the city." I offered as an explanation, disgusted by the thought. 

We all snapped to attention at the sound of footsteps and twigs snapping, Shane and I aiming our gun's while the others got ready with their weapons.

It took a moment but but Daryl finally emerged from the trees and we all relaxed and put down our weapons. " Shit." I breathed out as I felt my heart going a mile a minute.

" Son of a bitch." He swore, stalking over to the deer carcass, " That's my deer." Well it looks like it's the Walkers now, or was that is. 

" Look at it. All gnawed on by this..." He looked down at the body of the Walker, " Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!" Each word was accompanied by a harsh kick to the dead walker. 

" Calm down Daryl." I told him and he stormed over to me, " what do you know about it, huh girl?" He spat, getting in my face, " Why don't you just shut the hell up and leave me alone." I simply narrowed my eyes at him but refused to say anything from there. 

He scoffed and turned back to the deer, " I've been tracking this deer for Miles." He pulled his arrows free from where they had been embedded in the animal. " Was gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison." He motioned to a certain area on the deer, " what do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" He asked us.

" I would not risk that." Shane told him and I agreed.

Daryl let out an exasperated breath. " that's a damn shame." He then motioned to the squirrels he had, " I got us some squirrel, about a dozen or so, that'll have to do." It was better than nothing 

All of a sudden the severed head of the Walker started to move and I took a step back.

" Come on, people. What the hell?" He aimed his crossbow at it and pulled the trigger, killing the damn thing once and for all. Reaching down he pulled his arrow free, " it's gotta be the brain, don't y'all know nothing?" He asked as he walked by us and back to camp.

We all stood there for a few minutes, not wanting the confrontation that was about to go down to happen, though we knew we had no choice so we all followed the younger Dixon brother.

" Merle!" We head him call. " Merle! Get your ugly ass out here!" 

" This is gonna be fun." I muttered under my breath

" I got us some squirrel, let's stew 'em up." He continued to call and finally Shane was the one to step forward.

" Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you." He said, grabbing the archers attention. Finally Daryl stopped, " about what?" he asked and I brought my hand up to scratch the back of my neck awkwardly. " About Merle." I piped up next. 

" There was a..." Shane trailed of briefly, trying to find the right words to say, " There was a problem in Atlanta." He decided to say.

We all waited with baited breath, knowing that this conversation was only gonna end badly.

Daryl looked at us all as everyone started to gather around, " He dead?" Was the first thing out of his mouth. 

" We're not sure." I informed him, knowing fully how bad that must have sounded. 

" He either is or he ain't!" Daryl's voice was starting to raise now, that was never a good thing.

Rick took a few steps forward, " No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." He wasn't beating around the bush. 

" Who are you?" Daryl questioned, " Rick Grimes." At that Information Daryl's eyes flickered to me before looking back to my brother. " Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?" He asked mockingly, getting closer to Rick.

" You're brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." He told the other man bluntly, which in all honesty was probably the best way to do it.

Daryl turned away from Rick briefly, " Hold on. Let me process this." He turned back to face Rick, " you're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there?!" He was yelling now. 

" Yeah." Rick Simply said.

Daryl looked absolutely livid now, and the next thing I knew he was swinging, only to be tackled to the ground by Shane. 

Daryl pulled a knife from his belt and made his way into his feet, " watch the knife." T-Dog said and I noticed him for the first time.

Daryl started to try and slash at my brother and me and Shane lunged at him, grabbing his arms and giving Shane enough time to put him in a chokehold.

" You'd best let me go!" Daryl grunted, trying to struggle out. " Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane said to him and brought him to the ground. " Choke holds illegal." I scoffed at that, " you can file a complaint." Shane gritted out as he struggled to hold the other man in place. 

" We can keep this up all day, Daryl." I said in hopes he would just chill out.

Rick knelt down in front of him, " I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic, do you think we can manage that?" He asked. 

When he got no answer he repeated himself and Daryl let out a small affirmative, prompting Shane to release him.

" What I did was not on whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others." He said this ass if he was talking to a small child. 

" It's not Rick's fault. I had the key." T-Dog admitted to Daryl. " I dropped it." This made Daryl look at him like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, " you couldn't pick it up?"

" Well, I dropped it in a drain." Daryl didn't say anything to this and focused on catching his breath before pushing himself up and onto his feet.

" If it's supposed to make me feel better it don't. " Dixon said walking away from us.

T-Dog then mentioned that he chained the door shut.

Daryl wiped his eyes, trying to hide the fact that tears were forming, " hell with all y'all!" You could hear the anger and sadness in his voice, " just tell me where he is...so's I can go get him." 

" He'll show you."

All attention was on Lori from where she stood by the RV, " isn't that right?" I couldn't help but wonder if something had happened between the couple, she seemed mad at him.

" I'm going back." Rick announced, and Lori just made her way into the RV and Daryl stormed off.

After that Eveyone cleared the are and got back to what they were doing before. I was back by the car when I heard Shane and Rick talking, Shane was trying to convince Rick that it wasn't worth it but I know my brother, he wasn't gonna let that man die.

" So that's your big plan? You and Daryl?" Lori asked him from where she was sitting. All Rick did was turn and look at Glenn. " Oh, come on." He groaned, obviously not wanting to go back

" You know the way, you've been there, you said it yourself, in and out, no problem." Rick tried to reason. " It's not fair of me to ask, I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along, I know she would to." He said motioning to his wife.

Shane sighed, " that's just great. Now your gonna risk three men, huh?" 

" Four." T-Dog said and Daryl scoffed, " my day just keeps getting better and better, don't it?" Obviously not happy with who was going.

" You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brothers cracker ass?" At that I cleared my throat, " I'll go to." I offered and Shane shook his head, " No Ellie, I need you here." He said to be me and I gave him a look. 

" He's right Ellie, I need you here to help watch over the camp, I'd feel better if you stayed." At this I relented, " Fine, but don't think I'm always just gonna sit out." I meant that.

" Alright well that's four." Dale said and Shane shook his head, " it's not just four. You're putting every single one of us at risk, just know that Rick. Come on you saw that walker, it was here, it was in camp." He emphasized this fact to hopefully convince Rick that it wasn't a good idea.

" They're moving out of the cities, they come back, we need every able body we've got." He got closer to Rick, " we need 'em here. We need -em to protect camp." Rick's response was to tell Shane we needed more gun's.

" Right, the gun's." Glenn said as if he just remembered something. " Gun's?" I asked him, my eyebrows knitted in confusion, what in the hell were they talking about?

" Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns." He started listing of weapons, " I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left." My eyes widened at that, " you managed to get back to the station?" I quickly asked and he nodded, " I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up." Now I knew that they definitely had to go now, if not for Merle than those gun's.

" Ammo?" Shane asked, " 700 rounds, assorted." He informed him. 

" You went through hell to finds us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and Leave?" Lori asked him and I will admit that she had a point.

" Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl also spoke up and I started to slowly pace, one part of me knew that getting those gun's was essential but the other part didn't want Rick to go back out there.

Lori kept trying to get him to stay, saying how Merle wasn't worth it, even with the gun's.

Rick started to talk to Lori and I turned to Shane, " look I don't like it but it has to be done." I said to him.

" I know." He mumbled and that was the end of that.

Rick started to talk about a man and his boy, and how they had helped him and that he needed to get the walkie he dropped in that bag to talk to him. " These our walkies?" Shane asked, " yeah." Rick told us and I groaned, just great.

" So use the C.B, what's wrong with that?" Andrea asked.

" Nothing that thing is fine, it's our walkies that are crap, those pieces of junk date back to the seventies, hell they don't even match with the scanner in our cars " I explained.

____

Everyone soon split off, preparing for the trip that was about to happen, I wanted to talk to Rick alone before he left so I was waiting for him to be finished making the rounds.

Once he was done talking to Dale and Jim I made my way over to him.

" Rick...are you sure you don't need me to go?" I asked him, grabbing his arm to catch his attention. " I'm sure Ellie...with me taking them this camp is losing some of its best fighters, I need you here with Shane to protect the camp." He told me, placing his hand on his shoulder. " And besides, you and Shane are the only ones I trust enough to take care of Lori and Carl, and with myself going back I just want to know that they'll be safe." He told me and I understood where he was coming from.

" Alright... just make not to die on me out there." I told him, bringing him into a hug. He kissed the top of my head before leaning back and ruffling my hair, " I'll be back in no time."he squeezed my arm one last time before making his way to the truck. 

Soon enough they were all ready to go and I sat and watched as the truck started and soon drove off, coming to stand next to Shane as we both watched it disappear from sight. 

" They'll be fine." I said, turned my head to look up at him, " I know...but still anything can happen." Were the words spoken back to me.

I knew he was right, but we would just have to hope for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's chapter three! I didn't expect for it to be so long, 4,027 words to be exact, but I do want to get season one over with but I don't want to rush it. 
> 
> Anyways I hope you enjoyed, and remember to comment anything you want to happen!


	4. Chapter 4

It had only been a few hours since Rick and the others left, since then a few people had headed down the the quarry to get some laundry done, and in Shane and Carl's case to catch frogs. 

I had headed down as well, figuring I would catch some fish, or at least try to, Shane and Carl were doing a mighty fine job of scarring any potential bites away.

" I do miss my Maytag." Carol said as she scrubbed a shirt. " I miss my Benz, my Sat Nav." It was Andrea who went next and I couldn't help but look over at them.

" I miss my coffee maker." Jacqui added to the conversation, " with that Dual-drip filter and built in grinder, honey"

" My computer...and texting." Amy said and even though she was a year older than me she sounded like such a teenager in that moment that I couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

" I miss all my books." I was next to add. I may not seem like it but I was an extreme nerd, and I had spent a lot of my spare time curled up on the couch with a book and a cup of coffee, man I miss that.

Andrea looked at us all, " I miss my vibrator." Out of anything she could have said I certainly didn't expect that and we all started to crack up. 

Carol then got an almost mischievous look in her eye, " Me to." That made us all just laugh louder.

" What's so funny?" Ed's voice came from behind us as he headed down to where we were.

" Just swapping war stories, Ed." Andrea told him, her voice still full of laughter. 

He didn't say anything in response to that and continued to make his way towards us, a cigarette hanging from his lips.

Andrea didn't like the fact that he was watching us like he was so she turned to look at him once more, her face completely serious if not annoyed as she did so.

" Problem, Ed?" She asked in a clipped tone. 

" Nothin that concerns you." He looked down at Carol now, " And you ought to focus on your work, this ain't no comedy club" My grip tightened on the fishing rod, trying to keep my rising anger at Bay.

Andrea let out a small huff at that but refrained from saying anything, instead opting to return to her work.

I looked over to where Shane and Carl was and spotted Lori and Shane in what looked to be a pretty heated discussion and I set my fishing pole down. " If you ladies will excuse me for a moment." I said and stood up, making my way over to the pair. 

By the time I got over there Lori had already walked away and I quicken to my pace to catch up to her. " What was that+" I went to ask but she waved her hand at me, " Not now Ellie." She cut me off, still walking away. 

I furrowed my eyebrows at her, what the hell out her in such a mood. I noticed Shane watching her go and I made my way over to him. " What was that about?" I questioned and he shrugged, " Guess she was upset I brought Carl down here without asking." I doubted he was telling me the truth, but I wasn't gonna push him, and besides, even if I wanted to the sound of angry yells took any chance of me doing that away.

Me and Shane both turned to look at where the girls and Ed were arguing, though when Ed laid his hands on Carol was when the two of us snapped.

We stormed over there, ready to teach this bastard a lesson. 

Shane got to him first, dragging him away from the girls and shoving him down a few feet away. 

I dropped down next to him, slamming my fist into his face a few times, watching as his nose erupted with blood before pulling away. Shane was next to hit him, but unlike me he didn't stop, he just kept going and going. It was to the point where I had to grab Shane's arm to try and stop him, " Shane that's enough, I think he gets it." Shane shook his head before hitting him one last time, " You put your hands on your wife, your little girl, or anybody else in this camp one more time I will not stop next time. Do you hear me? Not even Ellie will stop me." He threaten, grabbing Ed's face, " Do you hear me?" He asked once more.

Ed chocked out a pathetic "yes" and Shane pointed his finger at him, " I'll beat you to death, Ed." There was a truthfulness to his words and I couldn't help but stare at Shane with a small amount of shock. 

By now though Carol was crying out for her husband as Shane slammed his fist in Ed's already damaged face once more before getting up and kicking him in the side and backing up. 

Carol broke free of Andrea's grip and rushed over to check on her husband, prompting me to back up as well. 

We all watched as Shane looked at us like he was in some sort of Daze before walking away. My eyes then flickered back to Carol as she was desperately apologizing to the sorry excuse for a man that was her husband.

I had reached up to wipe the sweat from my face only to notice the blood around my knuckles and I simply stared at them before shoving my hands in my pockets, deciding to take my leave as well.

I ended up back in my tent, a wet rag in my hand as I scrubbed my hands clean. 

That wasn't the first time I had been I fights like that, though those times had been in defense, sure I was defending Carol but still...I just felt so angry, but unlike Shane I knew when to stop. 

____

I stayed in my tent for a bit longer before deciding to get up and and join everyone.

I ended up sitting near Lori, though I didn't say anything to her, or to anyone for that matter, still feeling a bit ashamed for my actions earlier, even if the asshole deserved it.

I sat down just in time to see Andrea and Amy return with a lot of fish and I let out a low whistle, " That's enough for a feast." I commented, and everyone was quick to praise the sisters.

Dale had made his way over, but instead of having a smile on his face he looked kind of Grim. " I uh...I don't want to alarm anyone, but we may have a bit of a problem." He told us and pointed at something in the distance.

It was Jim, he was up on the hill, shovel in hand as he worked on digging... whatever the hell he was digging. 

We all made our way up there, all confused and worried about what the man was doing.

We all came to a stop besides him and stared, Jim didn't stop though.

" Hey, Jim." Shane said, trying to get his attention, when that failed he tried again. " Jim, why don't you hold up, all right? Just give me a second here, please." 

That got Jim to cease what he was doing and turn to us, " what do you want?" He asked as if we were bothering him, which we probably were.

" We're all just a little concerned, that's all." Shane told him and I had to refrain from saying something, a little concerned was an understatement.

" Dale says you've been out here for hours." Morales said next.

" So?" I raised an eyebrow at that response.

" So why are you digging?" I asked him.

Jim reached up to wipe the sweat from his upper lip, " Are you heading to China, Jim?" Shane questioned him, laughing briefly in disbelief. 

" What does it matter?" Jim told is, " I'm not hurting anyone." He went back to digging as he said this.

" Yeah, except maybe yourself." Dale worried. " It's 100° today.." he raised his arm and motioned around, " you can't keep this up." 

" Sure I can, watch me." I don't think I was the only one who thought Jim was starting to sound a little insane.

Lori stepped up besides Dale, " Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will. You're scaring people." This got Jim to stop. " You're scaring my son and Carols daughter."

Jim took in a deep breath, and motioned towards the kids, " They got nothing to be scared of." Like hell they don't.

Jim raised his arms at his side, " I mean what the hell, people? I'm out here by myself  
Why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone?" And of course he went right back to digging.

" We think you need a break, Jim." I told him. " Why don't you go get yourself some food, some shade to, and I'll tell you what, maybe in a little bit I'll come out here, I'll help you myself." Shane offered him.

" I will to, but please just tell us what this is all about." I pleaded him.

" Look why don't you give me that shovel." Shane held out his hand only to drop it when Jim looked at him like he was the crazy one, " or what?" He asked like he was a child.

" There is no 'or what', I'm asking you, I'm coming to you and I'm asking you, please, I don't want to have to take it from you." My friend tried to do this without any issue.

This time Jim looked between the two of us, " And If I don't, then what? You two gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier, aren't you." I dropped my head at that comment.

" Y'all seen his face, huh? What's left of it?" Jim said to the others.

" See, that is what happens when someone crosses you two." Shane gave him a blank stare, " That was different, Jim." His voice was scratchy as he said this, a lot quieter to.

I was surprised when I heard Amy but in, standing up for the two of us, " you weren't there. Ed was out of control. He was hurting his wife." She explained and I sent her a grateful look.

" That is their marriage. That is not theirs." He pointed at us, his voice rising. " They are not Judge and Jury." He turned his gaze back to us, " who voted you two kind and queen boss, huh?" I opened my mouth as if to say something but ultimately closed it, I didn't want to egg him on.

" Jim I am not here to argue with you, all right? Just give me the shovel." Shane went over to get it but Jim held it from him before shoving him and trying to him with the shovel.

Shane made quick work of getting him to the ground, trying to convince Jim that no one was going to hurt him. Shane placed handcuffs around the man's wrist, a safety precaution.

Jim then started to talk about his family, and how he told them it was gonna be alright only for his family to be pulled from his hands.

" Alright Jim... let's just get you into some shade."

We set him up against, and Shane, Dale, and I were in the process of trying to get him hydrated. We told him that were were gonna keep him there until we were sure he could be around others and himself safely.

" Sorry if I scared your boy and your little girl." This was directed to where Lori and Carol were sat with the kids. " You had sunstroke. Nobody's blaming you." Lori reassured. 

" You're not scared now, are you?" This time he was speaking to the kids. " No sir." Sofia's soft voice answered.

There was a pause before he started speaking again, " Your Mama's right. Sun just cooked my head is all." 

No one said anything to that.

" Jim, do you know why you were digging?" Dale asked the question I had been wanting to.

" I had a reason. Don't remember." The sun had clearly gotten to his head. " Something I dreamt last night." He looked over to Carl, " Your dad was in it. You were to, you were worried about him. Can't remember the rest." He explained and I shared a worried look with Dale.

" You worried about your dad?" Jim asked my nephew who told him that they weren't back yet. 

" We don't need to talk about that." Lori said, reaching over to rub her son's back.

" Your dad's a police officer, Son. He helps people, probably just came across some folks needing help, that's all." He completely ignored what my sister-in-law said and kept talking. " That man, he is tough as nails. I don't know him well but...I could see it in him, am I right?" He looked at Shane and I. 

" Oh yeah." Shane and I both said.

" There ain't nothing gonna stop him from getting back here to you and your mom, I promise you that." I watched Lori smile briefly at that and even I felt my lip quirk upwards.

Shane reached down and grabbed the bucket, " alright, who wants to help me clean some fish, huh?"

I laughed as the two kids hurried from their seats to follow Shane and I was quick to follow them.

Time to clean some fish I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 4! I really enjoy writing it so that way Ellie shares many similarities to Shane, but at the same time knowing when to have restraint. 
> 
> Remember to comment anything you want to happen, any predictions you may have, or anything else on your mind!


	5. Chapter 5

The night was full of laughter and there was a lightness to it that I haven't felt in a while, it was a sense of... normality I guess you could say. 

People were eating the fish that Andrea and Amy had managed to catch and thankfully there was enough for everyone to have seconds. 

" I got to ask you man. It's been driving me crazy." Morales said with a grin. " That watch." He pointed to where it was secured around Dale's wrist. 

" What's wrong with my watch?" The older man questioned, running his thumb over it.

" I see you every day, same time, winding that thing Like a village priest saying mass."

" I've wondered this myself." Jacqui piped in.

Dale shook his head slightly, " I'm missing the point." Though there was a smile on his face.

"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while." 

I looked at Dale, " She has a point." The world had come to a stop, so what was the point in keeping the time?

" But there's you, every day winding that stupid watch." Morales continued as he popped a piece of fish in his mouth.

" Time... it's important to keep track, isn't it? The day's at least." He tried to justify, " Don't you think, Andrea." He asked hoping she would back him up.

She simply brought her beer up to her lips to take a swig, avoiding answering.

I took a sip of my own beer, enjoying the slight buzz it was starting to cause. For the fist time in a while I felt relaxed, like absolutely nothing could go wrong.

I had no idea just how wrong I would be in only a few short minutes.

" I like..I like what, uh.., a father said to son when he gave him a watch. That had been handed down through generations." Everyone was quiet now as we listened to him speak. I always enjoyed listening to Dale, he had so many stories and he was incredibly wise.

" He said, ' I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs, no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment, now and then, and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it'. " 

It was quiet for a few seconds as we all took in what he said, some of us sharing amused looks as well. 

" You are so weird." Amy said causing the rest of us to laugh.

" It's not me. It's Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing." 

I took a bit of my fish before pointing my fork at him, " Definitely your bad paraphrasing." A smirk played an my lips. 

Amy got up from her seat after finishing up her fish and Andrea turned to her and asked where she was heading.

" I have to pee." Her voice was hushed, " Jeez, you try to be discreet around here.." she said before heading to the RV, causing us all to snigger.

I still couldn't get over how normal all this felt, just a group of people making the best out of a bad situation. We were like a family, hell after everything we've all endured I'd say we definitely were one, but what's crazy to think about is this whole outbreak Never happened...we would have probably never ran into each other.

I guess that was the silver lining in all of this.

" We're out of toilet paper." I heard Amy call...but I wasn't till I head the scream that I looked up. 

A walker had latched onto her, ripping a chunk out of her arm. More Walker's came came from around the RV and we all shot out of our seats, many running away from them.

" Get him out of here!" I yelled at Lori as I grabbed my gun, pumping it. Shane did the same and we worked in tandem, taking out as many Walker's as we could. 

They just kept coming though, for every one I took down there was two more to take it's place. 

I could hear the screams from everyone, either from fear or pain as they grabbed by Walker's. 

" Die you bastard." I gritted out as I hit one with the butt of my gun before sending a shotgun shell into it's brain.

Me and Shane made our way to Lori and Carl, guarding them from both sides as well as trying to protect those who were still alive.

We started to try and move as much people as we could away, but they just wouldn't listen and that ended up getting them killed. " Goddammit." I yelled in frustration, we were dropping like flies.

We started to try and get up to the RV, and that was when I heard more gunshots that definitely didn't belong to any of us.

They came out of the trees, gun's blazing as they took down walker after walker. " They're back!" I yelled, unloading more bullets into the horde. 

Rick started yelling for us and Carl was quick to run to his father as we finished up taking out the undead.

My heart felt like it was gonna fall out of my chest as the adrenaline coursed through my veins. We were all wide eyes, our breathing heavy as we tried to get out bearings. 

I looked around, Bodies littered the ground, belonging to both Walker's and the people I had called family.

It was crazy how safe you could feel, how it felt like nothing in the world could go wrong at that moment, only for people to end up dead.

I looked to my left and I felt tears form in my eyes. Andrea was hunched over Amy's body and soon her sobs got louder as her sister took her final breath.

Soon the rest of the group turned to stare at the sisters, still wrapped up in the arms of their loved ones.

" I remember my dream now." I turned to Jim as he spoke, everyone's cries still echoing in my ears." Why I dug the holes." I stared at him, to shocked to say anything. 

I heard sniveling from besides me and I turned to the person, seeing Glenn trying to keep it together. I didn't say anything as I went over to him and wrapped my arms around him in a hug, tears silently trailing down my face. He buried his face in my neck and I could feel his own tears as well.

Everyone stayed there for who knows how long, all in to much disbelief to do anything. Eventually I pulled away from Glenn and the two of us both shared a look.

This was a night that would haunt us for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was always such a sad moment in the show to watch, and it was just as sad writing it.
> 
> But Ellie and Glenn seem to be forming a fast friendship which is always good, Ellie needs someone besides her family that she can count on and she trusts Glenn the most out of everyone that she has only just met.
> 
> Anyways remember to comment and I hope you enjoyed!


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of that night was a blur, I didn't get that much sleep, though I doubt anyone did.

Andrea hasn't moved from besides her sisters body despite us trying to get her to at least drink sometime.

Many were worried though, and as much as it was a terrible thing to say...Amy was a risk, we had no idea when she was gonna turn and the last thing we need is Andrea getting bit to.

Many of us have tried to talk to her, all we were met with was silence. Lori was currently trying to talk to her, though by the looks of it she wasn't successful as she left only moments later.

I was with the others, going around and making sure our people wouldn't come back. It was gruesome... having to watch Daryl put a pickaxe in the heads of people that we all have come to know. 

We dragged the bodies off to be burnt and I swear the smell was worse then anything I've ever experienced. 

" I whish we could have been quicker...that I could have been quicker, maybe these folks would still be walking." I said aloud after we through another body in the fire. 

" So do I...but ain't nothing we can do about it, all we can do is move on, remember the folks that lost their lives last night." I let T-Dog's words sink in for a moment, he was right, though that didn't stop the feeling of regret that had settled deep in my chest. 

I heard a gun being cocked and my attention was draw to that. I was met with the sight of Andrea holding a gun to my dear brothers head.

I couldn't hear what was being said, but I still watched with narrowed eyes and baited breath. No one moved, all scared to startle the woman, eventually Rick slowly backed away and the gun was dropped. 

I soon found myself with the others, discussing what we should do about Andrea and Amy. 

" Y'all can't be serious. Let that girl Hamstring us?" Daryl motioned towards the RV. " The dead girls a time bomb." He spoke the words and although they were harsh that didn't make them any less true.

" What do you want us to do?" My voice was tired and I ran a hand over my face, noticing all the dirt and grime that adorned my face.

Daryl leaned towards me, " Take the Shot." He said like I should have already known the answer. " Clean, in the brain from here." He pointed to his own head for emphasis. " Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance." 

" No, for God's sakes, let her be." Lori told him as she took a seat, obviously not wanting to put Andrea in any more distress.

" Well we have to do something...and while doing what Daryl said may not be the most greatest of options, we need to let her know we gotta do what needs to be done." I said, not wanting to risk the safety of my family any longer.

Daryl scoffed, " At least someone gets it." He muttered before walking off. " I tried that...all it got me was a gun pointed in my face." My brother told me and I tossed my hands in the air, " Then what do we do?"

When no one said anything I shook my head before returning to work, going over to where Daryl and Morales were dragging a body and grabbing the legs to help them. 

" Hey, what are you guys doing?" Glenn asked us, " This is for geeks. Out people go over there." He pointed to where we had placed the bodies of our own.

" What's the difference? They're all infected." Dixon said to him, obviously not seeing what the point was.

" Our people go in that row over there." Glenn sounded teary-eyed as he said this.

" We don't burn the!" His voice rising before calming down, " We bury them. Understand?" I've never heard him speak like this before, " Yeah...come on boy's." I motioned for them to help me and we brought the body over to the rest.

" You reap what you sow." Daryl couldn't help but call over to Glenn as we moved the body and Morales was quick to lash out at him. " You know what? Shut up, man."

Daryl dropped the body and called out for all the camp to hear, " y'all left my brother for dead. You had this coming!" I watched as he walked off, turning to Morales once he was gone, " He's just upset about his brother, and I guess anger is his go to coping method." I defended the archers lightly. Morales just shrugged. " doesn't make what he said right."

I looked down, " I know." 

" A walker got him. A walker bit Jim." My heart stopped when I heard this and I snapped my head up to look at Jacqui. 

Jim backed away from her, and once he saw all of us slowly surround him he started to panic.

He insisted that he was okay but the younger Dixon wasn't having it,. " show it to us." He demanded but Jim refused. He then reached down to pick up a shovel, as if that would protect him from all of us. 

" Just show us, we aren't gonna hurt you." I tried to plead with him and he shook his head quickly, " As if I would believe that coming from you." His voice was shaky, from either the sickness or fear...hell it was probably both.

T-Dog managed to get behind Jim and he grabbed him, forcing Jim to drop the shovel and allowing Daryl to lift up his shirt.

And there it was, as clear as day.

A bite.

He kept saying that he was okay, over and over again as if it would actually heal him if he repeated it long enough. It wouldn't do a damn thing though.

The two men backed away from him and we just stared some in fear some with indifference, in the end we all knew this made him a threat.

We all gathered up like we did earlier when we were discussing Amy, trying to decide what to do. 

" I say we put a pickaxe in his head." Was of course Daryl's answer. " And the dead girls and be done with it." He couldn't help but add.

" Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane questioned him, obviously sick of hearing him say it. "Yeah, and I thank you while you did it." Daryl responded to him and I rolled my eyes at his answer.

" Sure you would." I muttered and he sent me a look, " I would." He insisted and I just waved him off.

" I hate to say it, I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right." He was right, I Never would have expected that to come out of Dale's mouth. 

" Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick said to him and Dale tried to defend himself but my brother kept talking, " He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" My brother had a point and let out a breath, hating the fact that all of them had very valid points.

" The lines pretty clear. Zero tolerance for Walker's, or them to be" Daryl said to him and I shook my head, " Jim's still breathing, and while I agree we should do something about Amy...Jim still has time." I put my thoughts out there, hoping that we could all just come to an agreement and soon.

" What if we can get him help? I heard the C.D.C was working on a cure." Rick said and Shane was quick to speak next, " I heard that to. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell." 

" What if the C.D.C is still up and running?" My brother out the thought in everyone's head and we all shared a look.

" Man, that is a stretch right there." Shane disagreed. " Why?" Rick questioned him, " if there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the C.D.C at all costs, wouldn't they?" It made sense what he was saying, " I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection-" Shane cut my brother off this time, " okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning." Shane proposed his plan now 

" That's 100 miles in the opposite direction." I told him, and it was clear if we chose any of those options the other would be far from Happy. " That is right. But it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed, we'd be safe there." Shane was trying to convince everyone that this was out best shot.

" The military were on the front Lines of this thing, they got overrun, we've all seen that. The C.D.C is our best choice and Jim's only chance." This was going absolutely no where, all they were doing was arguing at this point.

Daryl must have hand enough of it to as he gripped the Pickaxe tighter, " you go looking for aspirin, do what you need to do, someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" He charged towards Jim but the feeling of Rick's gun against his head stopped him.

" We don't kill the living." At the moment I agreed with Rick, but what we didn't know then was just how much blood would be on our hands as time went by.

Shane and I made our way over to shield Jim from Daryl's wrath in case he got any ideas again.

" That's funny, coming from a man who just put a gun to my head." 

" We may disagree on some things but not on this, you put it down." Shane told him and Daryl slammed the Pickaxe on the ground and walked away without another word.

Rick took Jim into the RV so that he would be safer in there, and I went with Shane over near Glenn's old car. " Fort Benning, huh?" I asked him and he shrugged, " I truly think it's our best bet El, they'd be able to provide us with protection." He was determined about this I would give him that.

" Protection yes, but answers... probably not, and that's what a lot of people want, and the C.D.C is our best shot at that." He didn't say anything and I sighed softly before turning to scan over the camp.

My eyes settled on Carol, she had the pickaxe in her hands and before I could even blink she was slamming it into her dead husband's head, no doubt years of built up anger, fear, and sadness all coming out with each swing.

She was done after a few more moments, breathing heavy as she dropped the weapon and hurried off. 

" Jim's settled for now, out him in the back room." Rick said as he made his way over. " Good, at least he's comfortable." I said.

We started to talk about the plan a little bit more but we didn't get far as growling cought our attention. It was Amy...she had finally turned and was grasping at Andrea.

The boys and I drew our handguns, I had gotten one after the attack as it was better to have that then lugging that Shotgun around. We didn't get far before we witnessed Andrea putting her gun up to her sisters head, pulling the trigger.

The gunshot echoed through the camp and we came to a stop, just taking in the scene in front of us with heavy hearts.

Amy was the first true death that truly struck a cord and that was because I actually knew her, though I whished I knew in that moment she wouldn't be the last, and that so many more of my friends and family would die, though I guess I should have expected it, after all, we are in the Lions Den.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! I surely enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Let me know you thoughts and feelings about this chapter, and let me know anything you would like to happen!


	7. Chapter 7

We buried the dead not long after Andrea had to put her sister down, it was far from a normal funeral but it was the best we could do given the situation. 

Soon after that we all made our way back to camp, sorrow hung in the air like clouds on a rainy day. You could hear the quiet sobs from people, their sadness, even I had a few tear tracks running down my face. 

Rick, Lori, and Carl all came to a stop ahead of me and when I made my way around the Rick reached out to grab my hand. " Would you mind taking him? Lori and I have to talk." I looked down at my nephew and nodded, " Of course, come on bud." I motioned for him to follow and he came over to me, grabbing my arm and placing it around him as he buried his face into my side.

" Thank you." Rick said to me, his voice quiet and raspy as he did so. I smiled at him briefly and I guided Carl away.

" You want to head to my tent?" I questioned once we were a little bit away from his parents. " Yeah." He responded meekly and I tightened my hold on him a bit.

We arrived at my tent and I unzipped it, motioning for him to head in. I stepped inside and zipped it back up before joining him on my cot. 

I grabbed my pillow and hugged it to my chest as I turned to sit cross-legged facing the young boy. " What's on your mind?" I asked him. Ever since this whole thing started I haven't exactly had any one on one time with Carl which was a complete contrast to how it used to be.

Before all this Carl used to be at my house every other weekend, we'd play video games, stay up late, have movie marathons...man I missed those days.

Even after he found out the news of what happened to his father he would still come over, he didn't say much at first, but I guess the sense of normality did him some good. 

Then of course the world went to hell and here we are.

" I just... don't want anyone else to die." I frowned at that, reaching my hand up to rub circles around his back. " I know, but you know with the way things are-" I cut myself off with a sigh, wetting my lips as I tried to find the right words. 

" We'll try are best to protect our own, but sometimes things are out of our control." I opted on saying, I know he's gonna be exposed to these things and he should be ready to face them, but I just want him to still have time to be a kid, at least for a little bit longer.

A forlorn look adorned his face but he nodded nonetheless, " I know, I just want us all to be alright." I wrapped my arm around his small frame and brought him into my side, " I get it Carl."

I leaned down to place a soft kiss on the top of his head, " Things will get better, I promise." I knew I couldn't promise something like that, but I didn't want him to worry anymore than he had to.

We sat there for a while, just enjoying the silence and each other's company before I patted his back. " Come on, let's go see what your parents are up to." I said as I stood up. 

I felt a pair of tiny arm wrap around my waist and a smiled down at him, returning the favor, " I love you, Carl." I told him and he returned the sentiment. 

We exited the tent and noticed everyone was towards the middle of camp, no one probably wanted to be alone right now. 

We made our way over to them and took a seat next to Lori. I looked around and furrowed my eyebrows, " where's Rick and Shane?" I asked Lori and she glanced up from where she was sharpening a stick. " They went on a sweep." 

Not to long after she told me that the two men emerged from the woods, along with Dale, and headed over to all of us. 

" I've been uh.. I've been thinking about Rick's plan." Shane was the one to speak as he made his way across from us while Rick on the other hand came to crouch behind Carl and I. " Now Look, there are no guarantees either way, I'll be the first one to admit that." I'm pretty sure we all knew that, there was a high chance that both places could be completely overrun, then we'd all be fucked.

" I've known this man a long time." He was speaking about Rick now. " I trust his instincts, I say the most important thing is we need to stay together." Shane spoke and I agreed with him. If we become divided then we were weaker, and in this world you can't afford to be weak. 

" So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning." 

Those words hung heavy with everyone as we mulled them over. I had already made up my mind, wherever Rick went, I went, we were a package deal, and I would stand by my brother no Matter what. 

The group sat that for a little bit before we all got up to go and get ready for the next day, it was gonna be a big one that was for damn sure.

It hadn't taken me that long to get packed, I didn't have to many things, just some clothes, a few pictures, and a few other things of personal value. I hadn't had much time to get anything else.

_______

I was up half the night tossing and turning, thoughts of the future was what kept me up as well as thoughts of the past, a terrifying combo in this context.

I managed to get a few hours in though, but still the next morning it was a struggle to get up, wanting nothing more than to bury my head back into the pillow and wrap my blanket back around me and to just go back to sleep.

Instead I forced myself up, grabbing a fresh pair of Jeans and another plain t-shirt and flannel, along with my shoes before I got to work.

It didn't take me that long to dismantle the tent and get it out away, and I decided to just sling my bag along my back to save space for someone else's stuff. 

" Can I get everyone's attention?" Shane's gruff voiced called and we all made our way over to him, Though I made my way to stand besides Rick who was right next to Shane. 

" Alright everyone listen up, those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on Channel 40, let's keep the chatter down, okay?" He was going over the basics for the road I guessed. " He's right, we need to keep them open and quiet Incase someone has an actual emergency or need to relay important information." I added, I remember they taught us that at the academy, it was one of the first lessons they showed us.

" Now just in case you don't have a C.B and you got a problem, you're gonna hit your horn one time, that'll stop the caravan. Any questions?" I thought no one was going to say anything but then Morales hesitantly spoke up.

" We're uh... we're not going." I hadn't expected that to come out of his mouth that was for sure. Everyone must have felt the same as we all stared at the family in shock.

" We have family in Birmingham, we wanna be with our people" His wife added when it was clear no one was gonna say anything.

" You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane told them so that they understand what exactly them leaving meant. He was right, any number of things could go wrong, but it was better to be in numbers then alone, strength in numbers and all that. 

" We'll take the chance, I got to do what's best for my family." I respected him for that, as essentially I was doing the same for mine. " Are you sure?" I asked him, just wanting to make sure he was positive.

He nodded and looked at his wife, " We talked about it, we're sure."

" Alright." Was all Rick said to them before kneeling and rummaging around in his bag. He pulled out a gun and some ammo before walking over to hand to the other man. " Box is half full." Shane informed.

" Thank you all...for everything." Morales wife said to us, teary eyed. We all exchanged our goodbyes. Once it was my turn I hugged the kids and Morales's wife before turning to him and Shaking his hand, " I hope our paths cross again one day." He smiled sadly at him and he returned the favor, " Me to Ellie, me to." With that being said I took a few steps back and watched as everyone finished up.

" Come on, let's go!" Shane told us and we all headed to our cars.

I ended up riding with Shane as there wasn't enough Room in Rick's car, which was fine, Shane was practically my brother anyways, he always treated me like a little sister when Rick and him become friends. 

The ride was spent in silence as Shane focused on the road and myself with my thoughts, it wasn't an uncomfortable silence though, which I was thankful for as I hated those. It was a nice time to reflect though, on all that's happened. 

It's still so hard to believe just how much we've lost, especially since Morales and his family left, loss didn't always have to come in the form of death. 

_____

We ended up having to stop because the engine started to Smoke on the RV, I figured it was the radiator hose, after all Dale never did get the one Rick promised him.

We were discussing possibilities when Jacqui came Rushing out of The RV. " Y'all, Jim!" She said, her voice full of panic, " it's bad, I don't think he can take anymore." She headed back in the RV after that. Hopefully Jim could hold out for a little longer, but the future wasn't looking to bright for him. 

We ended up abiding by Jim's whishes and we brought him out a little always from the cars and set him up against a tree. We figured it would be best for him and he agreed. 

I took notice of just how bad he had gotten, his body was soaked head to toe in sweat, his eyes were sunken into his, and he was ghostly pale.

We went up in almost a line, just saying our goodbyes to the man. Once it was my turn I knelt down besides him and patted his leg softly, " You don't have to fight anymore, Jim." I told him gently Before standing up, " I'll always remember you." Those were the last words I ever said to him as I made my way back down with the others.

Dale had gotten the RV working so we were ready to head out, and as the caravan started to move again I stared out the window at Jim until I couldn't see him anymore.

" I hope he finds peace." I said aloud and Shane glanced over at me, " Me to."

Hours went by but we finally made it to the C.D.C., only once we got out of our cars we realized that were were standing in basically a graveyard. Bodies were littered all over the place, flies swarming all over them. Then there was the smell...it was even worse then when we were burning bodies.

" Holy hell." Was all I could force out of my mouth, slowly walking forward, clutching my gun closer to my body in case some of these bodies weren't exactly dead.

It looked like the military tried to block the area off, probably to protect the C.D.C as long as it could, it was clear they weren't successful.

As we made our way through the smell was starting to get to everyone, I couldn't blame them, I wanted nothing more than to cover my nose but I had to be ready to shoot if it came down to it.

" Come on everyone, let's keep it moving." I whispered, taking the lead as we headed to the building.

The further we went the more bodies there seemed to be, both civilians and the military...none of them were lucky it seems.

We made it to the doors but they were shut, and they weren't the type that we could simply just break through, no...they were made of godamn metal.

We tried to open them but that proved to be useless and I pounded my hand on the door before clenching my jaw and turning to Rick, " There's no body here." T-Dog stated the obvious and soon everyone was becoming anxious. " Then why are these shutters down?" Rick shot back and I just shook my head, " precautionary measures?" I offered, though I didn't have a damn clue.

" Walker's!" Daryl called and I shook my head, could this day get any worse. The archers took down the Walker and turned his anger onto Rick, " you led us into a Graveyard!"

They continued to argue and I sighed, my eyes darting around to watch for more Walker's. They were just gonna draw more of them on us if they kept at it.

Finally they got Daryl to stop for a moment but Shane was on Rick just as quick, " Rick this is a dead end, do you hear me? no blame." He made sure to add the last bit and I turned to Rick. " Rick we gotta do something, it's getting dark and we aren't in the best position right now." I grabbed his arm, making him look at me briefly but he turned back to the doors.

" Fort Benning, Rick, still on option." Shane told him but it fell upon deaf ears, " On what? No food, no fuel. That's a hundred miles." Andrea said, clearly against the idea. 

Lori was becoming desperate, " forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight, now!" She demanded.

Finally Rick turned to her, " we'll think of something!" Shane decided to take that moment to get everyone to head back to the cars but I stayed next to my brother as he stopped. " The camera...It moved!" He told us and I glanced up at it. Dale told him he imagined it but Rick wouldn't listen as he insisted that it moved.

He made his way over to the camera but Shane followed him. He tried to get my brother to turn back but Rick fought him and Started to pound on the doors. The others kept trying to convince him that nobody was there but Rick kept talking to the camera. " I know you're in there. I know you can hear me." He said to it and now Shane was screaming at everyone to head back. I looked between the group and Rick who was pleading with the damn camera. 

I grabbed his arm, " Rick, please-" I tried to get him to come with me but he shrugged me off and soon Lori was next in trying to convince her husband. 

" Goddammit there's more of them!" I yelled as I made my way over to hold them off. Finally Shane managed to pull him away and I turned, only to be blinded by a bright light as the shudders opened.

Looks like Rick was right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like we're almost at the season finale!
> 
> Anyways like always I hope you enjoyed and be sure to comment you're thoughts!


	8. Chapter 8

We all stood there, our gazes locked onto the bright light that was emitting from the building. No one uttered a single word for a few moments but we soon remembered that we were basically in the middle of a graveyard.

Shane was the first to act, telling Daryl to cover behind us as we made our way Inside, weapons drawn and ready to shoot any potential threat's.

We entered what looked to be a lobby of some sorts, it was empty as far as I could tell. " Hello?" I called out but I didn't get a response.

The sound of a gun cocking cought my attention and I was quick to aim my gun in the direction that I heard it, the others having similar reactions.

It was a single person, a man to be more specific, he was holding an assault rifle though by the way he was holding the gun it was clear he was no soldier. " Anybody infected?" The stranger asked us and I shook my head. " No...one of our group was, but he's no longer with us." I Said, referring to Jim.

The man continued to hurl questions at us, you know the typical ' who were we?' and ' what did we want?' type deal.

" A chance." Rick said to him and the man made his way closer, gun still aimed at us, by now our gun's at lowered slightly but I was still on guard.

" That's asking an awful lot these days." He had a point there, with the way things were most people didn't have a chance, so to be asking for one was a lot to give.

" We know." Was how I responded to that and the silence that followed was tense, the only sound was of people's nervous breathing. 

Finally the man broke the silence with probably the best news we've heard in a while...well sort of.

" You all submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission." I frowned at that, not because I didn't like that he was allowing us to stay but because I absolutely hated needles. I could face Walker's, people, you name it, but not needles, definitely not needles...and come to think of it spiders to, but hey, if it means the group will be safe than I'll suck it up.

" We can do that." Rick agreed and at that the man lowered his gun, " You got stuff to bring in, do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." He told us pointing at the door.

Once he told us that we were quick to run to the vehicles and grab our things, being watchful for any Walker's. Thankfully there were none and it didn't take us long to get our things back in the building.

Once the doors were securely shut the man finally introduced himself as Dr. Edwin Jenner, maybe since he was a doctor he maybe had some sort of idea of what in the hell made the dead start to walk, though right now that didn't entirely matter, I was just thankful we were in a secure building and out of harms way for the time being.

" Follow me." He ordered and lead us down a hallway off to the side and into an elevator. We all packed inside the small space. We were so cramped in there that I was literally forced against Glenn's side. " You smell." He muttered playfully and I glanced up at him, " So do you asshole." We both laughed quietly at this. We hadn't had a chance to shower since...well I don't even know when, hopefully this place had running water.

" Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asked Jenner and the doctor turned to him, " There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." He explained before a small smile made it's way into his face. " But you look harmless enough." He then nodded towards my nephew, " Except you, I'll have to keep my eye on you." He told him and Carl shyly grinned. 

Once the elevator stopped we all stepped out and followed Jenner as he lead us through a narrow hallway. " Are we underground?" Carol spoke for the first time and my eyes flickered over to her. " Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner asked her, turning to face her " A little." Was Carol's answer.

" Try not to think about it." He turned back around and continued to lead us through the hallway. We all soon entered a bigger room and Jenner called for a person named Vi to turn on the lights.

The lights came on one by one, revealing a bunch of computers. I figured they must have been work stations. This must have been where all the scientist were working on a cure, or at least I hope they were, after all that was their job.

" Welcome to Zone 5." Jenner motioned for us to follow him forward. " Happy to be here." I mumbled under my breath as he lead us to where he was gonna take our blood.

" Where is everybody?" Rick asked the question we all wanted to Know, " The other Doctors, the staff?" 

Jenner now stood in the middle of the computers, " I'm it." I felt my heart sink, even though I kind of figured that when we had stepped in the room, hearing him say it just made it reality. 

" What about the person you were speaking with? VI?" Lori wondered, and Jenner started talking to the empty room. 

" VI, say hello to our guests. Tell them, Welcome." He ordered and not even seconds later what sounded like a woman's voice echoed through the room. " Hello, guests. Welcome."

" I'm all that's left. I'm sorry" He said once more and I shared a look with Rick who was no doubt feeling the hope he had about finding answers slip through his fingers. 

_____

Soon enough we were all waiting to get our blood drawn. I had taken to pacing in order to try to keep my nerves down and Shane smirked at me, " Feeling alright there, El?" He asked, full well knowing the answer. 

" Oh just peachy." I told him and soon I was called up. I rolled up my sleeve and laid my arm out, " Just make it quick." I told him and looked away, noticing that Eveyone was looking at me with an amused expression, " what's so-" I cut my self off as I felt the needle entire and I clenched my Jaw as I waited for it to be over.

Thankfully it was over quick and he bandaged my arm before calling over the next person who so happened to be Andrea.

I made my way over to sit besides Glenn who was trying his best not to laugh. " You say one word, Rhee, and I'll make you regret it. " I threatened him, he couldn't help himself now as he cracked a grin, " I'm sorry, but your face." He laughed, " oh hush." I nudged him and focused onto Andrea.

" What's the point? If we were infected, we would all be running a fever." She had a point there, why the hell did I have to get jabbed in the arm when I was fine?

Jenner looked up from his work, a serious expression on his face, " I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here." He told her and I guess he did have a point there. " Let me at least be thorough."

Jenner told her he was finished but when she went to get up she looked pale, like she was going to drop any minute. Jacqui was next to her and she helped hold her steady as Jenner asked if she was ok. 

" She hasn't eaten in day, none of us have" At the mention of that I felt my stomach growl a bit as the hunger pains I was trying to ignore returned.

After everyone was done we soon found ourselves in a dining area of sorts with more food than any of us had seen in a long time sitting right in front of us.

We were all laughing and talking, almost like that night back in the quarry, but at least this time we didn't have to worry about Walker's.

I took a sip of my beer and to say I was more than a little drunk was an understatement. 

" You know it Italy, Children have a little bit of wine with Dinner, and France!" Dale said and I grinned, already knowing where this was going. Lori looked down at her son, " Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." She said before taking a sip of her own drink.

My brother, who looked very tipsy at the moment, decided to butt in, " What's it gonna Hurt? Come on." He urged with a mischievous little smirk, one he used to give me all the time when we were kids when he wanted to do something that would surely get us in trouble.

We all laughed and Lori waved her hand as if to say go ahead, but she was laughing as well. Dale poured Carl a small drink and handed it to him, " There you are, young lad."

Carl took the drink from him and glanced around at everyone before tentatively taking a sip only to immediately set the drink down and scrunch his nose up in disgust.

That just made me laugh harder and I reached up to wipe a tear from my eye. " Oh man, that was almost as worse than the time Rick got into our parents wine cabinet." I managed to get out in-between laughs. 

" Nope, we are not talking about that, say anything and I'll tell everyone about the boathouse." That got me to shut up quickly, a light blush making its way onto my face and I shook my head, " Point taken." I told him and he snickered.

Carl was still trying to get the taste of the wine out of his mouth and Shane quirked his lip at the boy, " Why don't you just stick to soda pop there bud." He told him and Daryl took this moment to put the attention on Glenn, " Not you, Glenn " he said, " Keep Drinking, little man. I want to see how Red your face can get." 

Glenn let out mock laughter at this but soon all was silenced as Rick stood up and clinked his glass to get our attention. " It seems to me we haven't thanked out host properly." He motioned to where Jenner had been sitting silently. 

T-Dog raised his glass, " He is more than just our host."

We all toasted to Jenner though Daryl's "Booyah." Was definitely the best one causing another round of laugh's, though the mood was officially killed when Shane asked when were we gonna be told what had happened.

The energy in the room died down and we all looked at him.

" We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now." Rick told him but Shane shook his head.

" Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move... supposed to find all the answers. Instead we-" he cut himself off with a humorless chuckle, " We found him." He waved his hand towards Jenner. " Found one man, why?"

It was obvious that Shane was still a little mad that his plan didn't make the cut, but still he didn't have to be a dick and ruin everyone's fun.

" Shane can't this wait." I tried to ask him but he shot me down, " I don't think it Can, Ellie." His gaze never leaving the doctors.

Jenner took a breath before indulging Shane, " Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left." I guess that would maybe explain the massacre outside. " Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

Fear

That's what made this place empty, that and of course obligation to ones family, but mostly fear. It was to be expected of course, it wasn't like those doctors and scientist had rocket launchers and tanks at their disposal. No, those belonged to the Military, and they ended up dead...so I guess to them running was the only logical option.

" Every last one?" Shane asked, and he seemed almost smug about it, as if he was proved right in some way.

" No." Jenner told him, sadness underlying his voice, " Many couldn't face walking out the door. "They...opted out."

There goes fear taking over again, though in a much worse way.

" There was a rash of suicides." He took a moment, " That was a bad time."

" You didn't leave." Andrea stated the obvious, " Why?"

" I just kept working, hoping to do some good." Now I guess I know why a cure hasn't been found, one man isn't exactly Enough to get one done in such a short amount of time.

Everyone was quiet before Glenn got up and turned to Shane, " Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man." 

__________

Everyone finished up their food in relative silence and we all stood to follow Jenner as he brought us to where we would be staying.

" Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you'll have to make do here." He explained.

" The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in Storage if you like." He then pointed down the hall, " There's a rec room down there that the kids might like. Just don't plug in the video games, okay?" I watched as Carl and Sophia lit up at the mention of this and I reached over to ruffle Carl's hair, smirking as he swatted my hand away.

" The same applies to you all, don't plug in anything that requires power." He ordered, " If you shower, go easy on the hot water." That was the last thing he said before heading to his room. Did I just hear him correctly? Hot water...holy shit. 

We were all quick to find our rooms after that, everyone no doubt wanting to shower and get some rest.

I entered a room towards the end of the hallway and I set my bag down on the couch and grabbed a spare pair of clothes and headed into the bathroom. 

I set them down before rummaging around for a towel and some Shampoo and Conditioner.

Once I found them I turned on the shower and stripped, stepping into the shower and letting out a long sigh as I felt the hot water Cascade down my body. 

Dirt and sweat from the past few days being washed from my skin and being sent down the drain.

I was in there for maybe an half an hour before I decided to turn the water off and get out.

I dried off before slipping on the fresh clothes which consisted of just a simple t-shirt and some sweatpants.

I finished up in the bathroom and made my way over to the couch and took a seat, completely sinking into it. I hadn't had a moment to myself in so long, so it was nice to just be able to close my eyes in peace. 

It was never like that at the old camp, I could always hear people when I was in my tent, but this...well this was different, I had actual walls surrounding me and the only breathing I could hear was my own, it was absolutely amazing.

I grabbed the Pillow that was besides me and placed it under my head as I laid down. It didn't take me to long to fall asleep, morning was gonna be hell though, but I couldn't find it in my to care as I allowed myself to slip into slumber.


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning I awoke to what felt like my head being split in two, no doubt feeling the effects of the previous night. It took me a few moments to force myself into a sitting position, letting out a small groan as I did so. 

Once I managed to get my eyes to open I glanced around, momentarily forgetting where I was, but then I remembered. 

We were at the C.D.C., we were safe.

I felt another spike of pain shoot through my head and I brought my hands up to rub at my temples, hoping to ease the throbbing, it felt like one of those damn monkeys with the cymbals was in my skull.

It took me a little longer but I eventually managed to get to my feet and get ready for the day. 

I took a quick shower, the steam doing wonders for my hangover.

Then once I got dressed in the sweatpants from the night before and a clean black t-shirt I headed out of my room.

I bumped into Rick who was also coming out of his room, I couldn't help but let out a meek laugh. " You look Like hell." I teased, my voice still raspy from sleep.

" Yeah well so do you." He shot back half-heartedly, couldn't disagree with him on that one. " Well, I'm sure once we get some food in us we'll be good as new." I patted his back and the two of us made our way to the dining area.

We weren't the only ones up as I noticed T-Dog towards the back cooking and a few of the others sitting at a table. " Morning" " Hey" Rick and I both said at the same time as we made our way to sit down. 

Carl gave us an impish look as we did so, " Are you two hungover? Mom said you'd be."

" Mom is right." Rick told his son in a hushed voice, " Yeah, so keep your voice down." I added, burying my face into my arms and resting my head. 

" Mom has that annoying habit." I heard Lori add but I drowned the rest out, only peeking my head out when I heard T-Dog place a plate in front of me, " Thanks." I murmured and he laughed and patted my back.

I took a bite of the eggs and rested my head on my hand. I felt Rick's hand come up to rub circles along my back and then aspirin being placed in my free one. Even if he was feeling like crap he always took care of me, and that never changed as we got older.

I popped them in my mouth and took a swig of water to wash it down, expressing my gratitude by blindly patting his arm.

I then glanced up to where Glenn seemed to be feeling the effects of the hangover more so than anyone, " Never let me drink again." He said as Jacqui rubbed his shoulders comfortingly. 

" Hey," Shane greeted as he emerged from the hallway, heading over to grab a coffee. " Feel as bad as we do?" Rick inquired and Shane responded with " Worse." 

He turned back towards us and T-Dog sent him a stunned look, " The hell happened to you? Your neck?" He questioned him and I fully got a good look at Shane.

There were scratch marks all along his neck, and they were recent to, specks of blood still residing around the scratches. " I must have done it in my sleep." He offered an explanation but I highly doubted that's what happened. " You've never done that before..." I trailed off, lifting an eyebrow at him.

" I know I haven't, not like me at all." His gaze trailed over to Lori as he said this, his words seeming to hold a deeper meaning. Lori gave him a look before silently popping a piece of food in her mouth and looking away.

The two of them were acting weird, but both were as stubborn as a bull and I doubt I would be able to get anything out of either of them.

It was silent for a brief period of time before Jenner entered the dining area. " Morning." He greeted and I sent him a small wave as everyone said their greetings. 

" Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" " But you will anyway," Jenner said, politely interrupting Dale as he poured his own drink. 

" We didn't come here for the eggs," Andrea remarked, the way she spoke was serious, tired of beating around the bush and just wanting answers, after all, that was the entire reason we were even here.

He turned around, letting a small sigh slip out before motioning for us to follow him.

He took us back to the room with all the computers and started to tap at one. " Give me playback of TS-19." 

" Playback of TS-19," Vi responded and the large screen in front of us came to life.

" Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." Jenner Informed us, motioning to the screen.

" Is that a brain?" Carl asked the doctor.

" An extraordinary one." Jenner said, a sort of proud look on his face before it was replaced with sorrow, " Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V.." 

The screen shifted to show a more up-close view of the brain as it went deeper inside of it. It revealed a bunch of bright lights zipping around the brain. " What are those lights?"Shane asked Jenner, his eyes staring at the screen.

"it's a persons life, experiences, Memories. It's everything." He explained, pointing between us and the screen as if to show that this was happening in all of us.

" Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you, the thing that makes you unique and human." The way he spoke made me feel just like I was back in my old psychology class, listening to my teacher drone on about neurons and how things are connected.

" You don't make sense ever?" Daryl asked and I sighed, " They're Neurons, and what's happening is synapses" I started, recalling what I had been thought, " They're responsible for transferring electrical impulses and Information. So basically everything you see, hear, feel, and so on is transferred between those." I finished and everyone was just staring at me. 

" What? I took psychology In high school." I said with a shrug. Jenner gave me an Impressed look, " You know your stuff." He praised before explaining it some more. " As she said those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages, they determine everything a person says, does, and thinks, from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

" Death?" Rick questioned walking forward, " That's what this is, a vigil?"

" Yes." The doctor told him, " Or rather the playback of the vigil." He corrected.

" This person died?" Andrea asked softly, looking now at the scan of a person we knew to be dead. " Who?"

" Test subject 19." Jenner told her, " Someone who was bitten and infected...and volunteered to have us record the process." The man got quiet for a second before telling VI to scan forward to the first event.

The screen fast-forwarded to show the brain at a later stage, but with what looked life black roots growing out of the brain stem. The Virus took control of the brain, growing until we just couldn't handle it anymore. It was scary to think about, how we wouldn't have any control over it as it continued to infect us. 

" It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes Into shut down, then the manor organs. Then death, everything you ever were or ever will be...gone." His words hung over us, it was crazy to think that this could happen to any of us if we weren't careful.

I had thought that not knowing how the virus worked was scary...but now seeing it in front of me was something else, we still didn't know what caused this, but I could only hope that Jenner at least had some clue.

" Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked meekly, clutching at her doll. " Yes," Her mother told her, but my attention was soon on Andrea who had started to tear up. There was no doubt that this was hard for her...with what happened with her sister and all.

"She lost somebody two days ago, her sister," Lori told Jenner who was looking at Andrea with what I'm guessing was concern.

Jenner took in this Information and leaned in a bit, " I lost somebody too." He told Andrea, a look of understanding making its way onto his face. " I know how devastating it is."

They traded a look before Jenner leaned back and told VI to scan to the second event. 

" The resurrection times vary wildly, we had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was right hours."

He motioned to the patient on the screen, " In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute, seven seconds." 

The brain was all black but what looked like red sparks started to light up near the brain stem. 

" It restarts the brain?" Lori asked Jenner and he shook his head, " No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving."

" They're not alive though?" I thought allowed, already knowing the answer pretty much. " You tell me." The doctor glanced at me and waved his hand at the screen. 

" It's nothing like before," Rick noted, his eyes glued to the brain activity, a look of wonder in his eyes. " Most of that brain is dark."

"Dark, lifeless, dead." He spun to face my brother, " The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part...that doesn't come back. The 'You' part. Just a shell, driven by mindless instinct " 

It made sense suppose, after all, if that part of the person came back then they wouldn't try to eat those who had once been close to them. 

All of a sudden there was a flash and what looked like a streak of light shot across the patient's brain. I furrowed my eyebrows, what in the hell was that-oh. What had happened dawned on me, he shot his patient, or I suppose the body of his patient, at that point it was just a mindless monster.

" What was that?" Carol asked in confusion and my eyes flickered to her, " He shot them in the head." I answered her, looking back to Jenner as he powered down the main screen and the workstations. 

" You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea accused him, she looked like she was gonna break down, holding it together by only a thread, I understand why, she wanted to know what happened to her sister.

" It could be microbial, Viral, Parasitic, Fungal." He named off possible causes for what was making the infected. " Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui cut in, " There is that." Jenner agreed. 

I shook my head slightly, well I guess we got our answer or lack of one I suppose I should say. I should have guessed this would happen, it was just to good to be true that we would find all of our answers here.

" Somebody must know something." Andrea pressed, " Somebody somewhere."

" There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol asked him but it was pretty much useless at this point, even if there was the world was to far gone to do something about it. 

" There may be some. People like me."

" But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick cut Jenner off, his voice holding a demanding edge to it.

" Everything went down. Communications, directives, all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month." He Informed us gently, unsure of how we would take the news. 

"So it's not just here." Andrea said with a shake of her head, " There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing?" You could see any hope that she had just vanish as her shoulders slumped, " That's what you're really saying, right?" 

Jenner struggled to find the right words and everyone let out collective breaths of disbelief.

" Man, I'm gonna get shit faced drunk again." Daryl said, running his hands over his face as he paced, " I'm with you there." I muttered in agreement.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but that clock." Dale pointed to the clock that was counting down on the wall, " It's counting down. What happens at zero?" 

" The basement generators, they run out of fuel," Jenner explained as he started to walk away.

" What happens then?" I asked him but he ignored me and kept walking.

" Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Rick asked the AI. 

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." 

What? What the hell did that mean? It was clear as day that we all had no clue what that meant, but I know one thing and that was I didn't like the sound of it.

After that, A few of us hurried out of the room, full of worry and confusion. " Decontamination...what does that mean?" Glenn asked hurriedly as we made our way down a flight of stairs. 

" I don't like the way Jenner clammed up," Shane stated his thoughts and I couldn't help but agree with him. " The way he just wandered off like that."

" He's hiding something." I added, " What the hell is wrong with him?"

Rick, Glenn, Shane, T-dog, and I all found the door to the basement and we made our way inside. " I'm not sure Ellie, we'll find out one way or another," Rick told me us we scanned the messy room we were in.

We all split up to search and I ended up with Glenn, the two of us were too focused on looking around so little words we're shared between us.

" This is bad man, really bad." I told him and he nodded, " Tell me about it." He said back as we walked around the room.

The lights flickered and Glenn and I came to a stop, looking up at the ceiling as VI's voice echoed through the room. 

" Emergency lighting on."

I shared a look with Glenn, " I don't think that's good." He shook his head " I don't either." He agreed.

We hurried to meet back up with the others, " Rick, you kill the lights?" I called over to him.

" Nah, it just went out," Shane responded for him. 

"Anything?" Rick asked us and T-dog came from around the corner, " Yeah, a lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count." He answered for us.

Shane shined his flashlight on the generator that was on and I noticed how close it was to empty, " This really can't be the only one left? Can it?" I asked them and we all shared a look.

" Come on, let's get back to the others," Rick said and we all left the room.

We caught up with the rest of the group who were all following Jenner above us. 

"Rick?" Lori called down and Ruck just motioned for her to sit tight.

Rick and I made our way the front, ready to demand answers.

" Jenner, what's happen?" Rick spoke first and Jenner turned around, " The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second." Jenner told us as we made our way back into the main room, "That started as we approached the half-hour mark." He pointed to the clock, " Right on schedule."

He took a sip of the bottle he was holding before handing it back to Daryl who snatched it from him.

" It was the French." I sent Jenner an uncertain look, " What?" I questioned him and he continued.

" They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

I ran my hand through my hair at that, " Well obviously they never finished, or there wouldn't be dead freaks roaming the damn city." I couldn't help but snap, I was just so sick of hearing bad news lately, I just wanted something good to happen for once that didn't just end in disappointment.

" The same thing that's happening here is what happened there, no power grid, just ran out of juice." The doctor Informed us. The look on his face and his body language made it seem like he didn't even care.

" The world runs on Fossil fuel, I mean, how stupid is that." Shane had enough after Jenner said that and he rushed at Jenner and Rick and I had to stop him briefly.

" Shane relax." I hissed at him as Rick told everyone to go get their things. Though just as we all headed for the doors a loud alarm started to sound and the screen came on with a timer.

" Thirty minutes to Decontamination." VI's voice said and I felt a twinge of fear, I didn't let it show though, I had to be strong for the others. 

" Doc, what's going on here?" Daryl yelled at Jenner and Shane started to herd everyone towards the doors.

We didn't make it far though as Just as we were about to leave the door slid shut, trapping us in the room. " Did you just fucking lock us in!" I yelled at the doctor, the fear I once felt replaced with white-hot anger.

I looked around and saw Jenner sitting at one of the computers, recording a video about who knows what. It was obvious I wasn't the only one who was pissed at the doctor as Daryl charged at the man, ready to throw the bottle of alcohol at him. Thankfully T-dog and Shane were there to stop him.

I took a breath before marching over to Jenner, it was best if I kept a level head, for everyone's sake. " Jenner I think it would be a good idea to open that door," I said tersely but he just gave me a blank look, "There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed." I let out an aggravated sigh, " Well open them." I demanded, pointing at the computer he was sitting at. 

He shook his head, " That's not something I control. The computers do, I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say it." He reminded us and I ran my hand over my face as I took a step away before turning back to him, " Well you also didn't tell us that there was a fucking timer counting down to facility-wide decontamination." I snapped, not putting up with his bullshit.

" It's better this way." He told us and I furrowed my eyebrows, what in the hell is he going on about now?

" What's better? What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick questioned him, coming to stand next to me and clasping me on the shoulder before leaning in close to the doctor, " What happens in 28 minutes?" He demanded, his anger reaching it's tipping point.

" You know what this place is?!" Jenner stood quickly from his chair as he started to tell back at us. " We protected the public from very nasty stuff!" He was in Shane's face now, the latter looking as though he wanted to clock the doctor in the face. 

" Weaponized Smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" Jenner was screaming now and I stared wide-eyed at him as he finished his outburst.

Jenner moved back to his seat as he forced himself to relax before he started talking again.

" In the event of a catastrophic power failure, in a terrorist attack for example, H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out." 

"H.I.T.s?" Rick questioned.

"VI, Define." 

"HITs, high-impulse, thermobaric fuel-air, explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear." With each passing word everyone started to grow more distraught and I leaned back against one of the machines and wiped at the tears that were starting to form. 

This wasn't how I wanted to go, and this definitely wasn't how I wanted my family to go.

" The Vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000° and 6,000° and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired." VI finished it's explanation and I leaned forward, resting my hands on my knees as I tried to force myself to calm down, it wasn't doing any good though as my breathing started to become shaky.

" It sets the air on fire." I barely heard Jenner say, I was to busy trying to not throw up to pay to much attention to him. 

" No pain. An end to sorrow, grief... Regret. Everything." I glanced up from the ground and shook my head. We deserved a chance to try and make it, not being forced to watch the clock tick down to our final moments. 

The sound of glass shattering caught my attention and by the sound of Daryl's angry voice I knew he was the culprit.

Next I heard Shane yell and I watched as he charged the door, bringing the ax in his hand down upon it, trying desperately to get us a way out. 

Daryl joined him and the two worked in tandem with each other. 

I looked towards where my nephew and sister-in-law were and my heart broke at the sight of the teardrops running down Carl's face. Sophia and her mother were next to them and they weren't doing much better. 

"You should've left well enough alone. It would have been so much easier." Jenner told us and I scoffed, sniffling a bit as I reached up to wipe my nose. 

" Easier for who?" I could hear it in her voice that Lori was pissed the hell off, and she had every right to be. 

" All of you. You know what's out there, a short, brutal life and an agonizing death." The Doctor was trying to convince us that this was the best way to go. " How the hell do you know that when you won't even give us the chance to try?" My words seemed to pass him by as he simply ignored me and turned towards Andrea.

"Your sister, what was her name?" He asked her.

"Amy."

"Amy." Jenner repeated. " You know what this does. You've seen it."

His next statement was directed at Rick who had made his way over. " Is that really what you want for your wife and son? Your sister?" 

Jenner was barely able to finish his sentence as Rick leaned in close, " I don't want this." He said emphatically.

Rick didn't spare the doctor another glance as he turned around to look at shane was was breathing heavy. 

" Can't make a dent" He said before putting his head between his hands and trying to get his breathing under control.

" Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner informed us unhelpfully. " Oh isn't that nice." I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. 

My eyes snapped over to a very angry Daryl who had started to charge at the doctor, " Well, your head ain't!" The archer yelled and went to swing at him with the ax. 

" Shit Daryl!" I yelled and rushed to him, my brother and a few others having the same response as we all tried to keep him back. 

We managed to force him back and I let go and let out a shaky breath, " Jesus Christ." I said, feeling as though my heart was going to shoot from my chest. 

" You Do want this." Jenner said, putting emphasis on the 'do'. " Last night, you said, you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." He was talking directly to Rick now and I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at my older brother. 

" Rick..." Did he really think that?

"What? You really said that?" Shane asked him, " After all your big talk?"

" I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick attempted to reason with his best friend. 

" There is no more hope." Jenner really wouldn't just shut up. " There never was."

" There's always hope." Rick told him and I nodded, " My brothers right, we can't just give up because things aren't looking so good."

Jenner looked between the two of us and let out a dry laugh, " You two really are siblings." He said without humor.

" Listen, maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere-" Rick picked back up his speech only for Andrea to talk over him.

" What part of 'Everything is gone' do you not understand?"

"Listen to your friend. She gets it." Jenner told Rick. " This is what takes us down."

" This is our extinction event."

Those words hung over us like a dark cloud as the crushing realization that we were all going to die was fully realized.

" You can't do this to us." I whisper out, " It isn't right that you get to make this choice for us."

" One tiny moment, a millisecond, no pain." He tried to make me see how good of an option it was but I wasn't having it.

"My nephew doesn't deserve this!" My voice was rising now. " That little girl doesn't deserve this!" I pointed at Sophia. I stared at him for a good moment, refusing to look away. My green eyes glared into brown before I shook my head.

" None of us do."

I walked off after that, I didn't want to hear any more of what he had to say. I barely was able to take five steps before I heard the sound of someone cocking a gun and I whipped around to See Shane with his shotgun in his hands. 

Rick tried to stop him but Shane pushed right passed him and aimed his weapon right into Jenner's face. 

" Open that door, or im gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!" He threatened menacingly. I watched as Rick tried to get Shane to put the thing down but all that resulted in was Shane getting more angry and shooting the computers around us.

" Shane!" I yelled out to him, knowing that those computers could have easily have been the doctor's head. " You have to calm down!" I had managed to make my way over to him and gripped his arm, thankfully Rick was able to help me get the gun out of his hands. 

Shane was on the ground now and the shotgun was in Rick's hands. I kneeled down beside Shane and held his shoulder. " Are you good?" I asked, my tone coming out a bit forceful as I tried to make sure he wasn't going to pull another stunt like that. The last thing we needed was Jenner dead and then we would really be trapped in here. 

" Are you done?"Rick asked him after I and Shane just stared up at him, his face a blank mask but the rage in his eyes was obvious as he responded.

"Yeah, I guess we all are."

I stood up and let out a tiny breath I hadn't noticed I was holding.

One look around the room and it seemed that everyone had had the same reaction. 

" I think you're lying." Rick said, catching the doctor's attention. 

" What?"

"You're lying." My brother repeated. 

"About no hope, if that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest, or taken the easy way out. You didnt." Rick contained and he had a point, Jenner did choose to stay. " You chose the hard path. Why?"

Jenner shook his head, " It doesn't matter."

" It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when the others ran. Why?" Rick asked again.

" Not because I wanted to. I made a promise." Jenner stood up from his chair and pointed at the screen. " To her."

"My Wife."

" Your wife was the test subject?" I asked him and he gave an almost defeated nod.

" She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" He was just a man who had made a promise to his wife, I couldn't hold that against him. 

The sound of Daryl hacking away at the door echoed through the room but all of our attention was on Jenner as he spoke. 

" She was dying. It should have been me on that table." He said, gesturing back to the screen, " It wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world." 

"Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein." He emphasized to Rick before giving a tiny shake of his head," me? I'm just...Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me."

Rick held his hand up in reason, " Your wife didn't have a choice. You do...that's all we want."

" A choice, a chance."

The two stared at each other for a brief second before Lori got their attention, " Let us keep trying, as long as we can."

I could see the internal struggle Jenner was going through and his shoulders sagged, " I told you..." My heart dropped at this, " Topsides locked down. I can't open those." Jenner brushed passed Rick and walked down to one of the computers that Shane hadn't busted up. 

He scanned his card and pressed a few buttons and the door that Daryl was at slid open. " Come on!" He called at us and we all rushed towards the door.

" Come on! Let's go, let's go!" I yelled as I started herding people towards the exit. I glanced back to where Rick was with Jenner and I watched as the doctor leaned in to whisper something to Rick. 

I licked my lips before calling out, " Rick we have to go! We only have four minutes left!" My brother started to walk forward and I grabbed his arm, pulling him to the exit.

My gaze snapped over to where Jacqui was arguing with T-dog and I felt my stomach drop.

She was staying.

We all backed away from them as she urged us to go and I swallowed thickly, watching as Dale tried to reason with her.

"I'm staying too," Andrea said and Dale shook his head.

" Go! Go!" He yelled at us and I looked away. 

" Come on." I heard Glenn say from behind me and with one last look we all sprinted down the hallway

We made our way to the stairs and hurried up them, we were losing time so we had to be quick. 

We made our way out of the stairwell and into the main lobby. T-dog rushed to the doors but they were locked tight. 

" Come on, we have to get them open!" I yelled.

We were all trying but nothing was working, Shane and Daryl had taken to trying to break the window and I was tugging hard on one of the doors. This couldn't be how it ended, it just couldn't. 

T-dog had grabbed a chair and was trying to break the window but I knew it was no use, we were trapped. 

Next Shane was up and he fired shell after shell i to the glass but i didn't even make a dent. 

"Rick, I have something that might help." I turned and watched as Carol dug through her handbag.

" Carol, I don't think a nail files gonna do it," Shane said to her and I shot him a look.

" Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket." She explained to him and she held out a grenade. 

" Jesus," I muttered in disbelief.

Rick took it and took a few steps back before rushing to the window. 

" Watch out!" He called and we all made our way to cover. 

He unpinned the grenade and looked at it before quickly bolting away from it.

" Oh shi-" he started to yell but the blast knocked him forward.

The glass shattered and I made my way to my feet. " It worked," I exclaimed and we all made our way to the window. 

I saw the walkers and I cursed to myself, the blast must have attracted them. 

I felt something nudge me and I looked over to see Shane holding out another Shotgun, mine was still in the C.D.C., and some shells. I took it from him quickly and checked to see that it was already loaded and we pushed forward.

We took out the walkers as we made our way back to the cars. 

I got into the RV and sat next to Glenn as Rick, Lori, and Carl were in the front. 

" Wait Look!" Lori pointed, " They're coming!"

I looked to where she was pointing and sure enough Dale and Andrea were climbing out of the broken window. 

Time was ticking and Rick started to beep the horn and we all called for them to get down. 

Rick started ushering us to get down as well and we all got down onto the floor. 

I wrapped my arms around my nephew and I watched as Rick wrapped his arms around his wife, though I Felt Glenn wrap his arms around me and I braced myself. 

The sound was deafening, It caused my ears to ring as the building imploded. I could feel the heat even in the RV and that made me hold Carl tighter. 

It was over quickly though, and I slowly got up and peered through the windshield at the fiery ruins of the building. 

Dale ushered Andrea up and I opened the door for them and waved my arm for them to hurry, " Get it, come on, get in!" 

Once they were in we all took a minute to try and calm down, it wasn't working and I felt like there was a jackhammer in my chest. 

Rick turned the keys to start the engine and I leaned back next to Glenn as we drove off, away from the ruins of the C.D.C.

We drove for I don't know how long, all I know was that when we stopped it was night time. 

We all had to re-group and decide what we were going to do.

Rick, Shane, and I were a bit aways, discussing what the plan was. 

" Fort Benning is still an option Rick, it's where we should have gone right from the start." Shane spoke and Rick clenched his Jaw. 

" Maybe, but what's done is done, now we have to focus on getting supplies, because quite frankly, I don't even know if we can last another week." Rick told him and I sighed.

" If we take the highway towards fort Benning then we can check the cars on the way, Shane you saw how many people were leaving the city, and I doubt any of them managed to get their cars out." I offered my idea and Shane nodded, " She has a point Rick." 

Rick sighed before giving in, " Alright, we'll take the highway to Fort Benning." He ran a hand over his face, " Shane, would you go tell everyone, I have to talk to Ellie." 

Shane looked between the two of us before backing up and nodding, turning on his heel to make his way to the others. 

I looked to my brother and quirked an eyebrow, " So whats-" " We're all Infected." He cut me off and I stared at him, not registering what exactly he said. 

" Excuse me?" 

" We're all infected." He repeated and I let out a laugh of disbelief. 

" And who told you this?"

" Jenner did, right before we left, he said that it doesn't matter how you die, if the brain isn't destroyed your gonna come back as one of those things." 

I stared at him before bringing my hands up behind my head and I started to pace. " So we all have it? Are you gonna tell the others?" I asked him, my voice slightly panicked. 

He brought his hands up to my shoulders and looked me in the eyes, " I can't tell them, El, if I do they'll lose hope, and we can't afford that." He looked up towards the sky before looking back at me, " I need you to be with me on this, we can't let the others know." 

I looked to the ground, not able to meet his eyes, " Fine." I reluctantly agreed, I didn't like keeping something this big from the group but if Rick felt it was necessary then I would do it. 

He wrapped his arms around me and brought me into a hug, " Thank you." He whispered, kissing the top of my head before letting go. 

He gave my arm one last pat and then he made his way back to where the others were.

I simply stood there though, watching him leave, my mind was going at a mile a minute but I was only able to focus on one thing.

We Were All Infected.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day we were back on the road, all of us glad to leave the city behind.

We had all gotten into different cars and I was currently sitting in the back of one with Carol and Sophia while Rick, Lori, and Carl were in the front, Carl being Tucked into his mother's side as it was a bit cramped in the car, I had offered to ride in the RV but Rick had said it was no trouble.

We road in comfortable silence, my head was against the window and I watched the trees as they went by, the window itself was cool against my skin, giving a little relief against the hot Georgia sun. 

" Just Thinking about our trip to the grand canyon with Carl." Lori's voice broke through the silence as she addressed her husband and I moved my gaze away from the trees and onto her.

Rick looked at Lori and smiled, a laugh bubbling out from him as he recalled the trip.

" I don't remember that," Carl said, looking at his parents with clear confusion in his eyes. 

" No, you wouldn't. You were just a baby." Lori told him, amusement lacing her voice. " Besides, we never made it past fort worth."

" No, you got sick. I never knew a baby could throw up so much." Rick added and I snickered, " I remember that, I also remember getting a call in the middle of the night from your father, he had no idea what to do." 

" Well excuse me for turning to my sister in my time of need," Rick said sarcastically, though a smile still graced his face. 

I scoffed playfully, " I was thirteen Rick, besides, everything turned out fine didn't it? " 

" That it did, the doctor said you would be alright and we turned right around and went home." Lori added and Carl looked up at his mom, " That sucks." He said and Lori shook her head. 

" No, it was a good trip."

" The best." Rick agreed and reached over to pat his wife's hand. 

" Can we go see it? The grand canyon?" Carl questioned, " I'd like to."

" I would too." Sophia piped up from beside me, " Can we go?"

" We'd never go without you and your mom. That's a promise," Rick said as he turned away from the road to look at the little girl. 

We drove for a bit longer when the RV suddenly came to a stop in front of us, the large number of cars in front of us no doubt blocking out path. I had expected for there to be lots of them, but I had forgotten just how clumped together all the vehicles would be.

It took a moment, but I watched as Daryl circled around and led our convoy through a small path between all the cars.

As we rode through it was like a car graveyard, all of them filled with belongings that most likely would never be claimed again unless they served a purpose. 

A bit further in the RV came to another stop, but this time I could see the smoke coming from the engine. " Shit," I muttered, gripping the seat in front of me as I tried to get a better look. 

Rick brought the car to rest and took the keys out before exiting the car, the rest of us followed him and we made our way over to see what had happened. 

We saw everyone exit the RV and my brother called to the oldest among our group, " Problem Dale?"

" Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of..." Dale cut himself off as he watched Daryl go up to a nearby car and he released just where we were.

" If you can't find a radiator hose here...." Shane started to say but Daryl had spoken as well, " There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." 

" I can siphon more fuel from those cars for a start," T-Dog said, already heading over to one. 

" Maybe some water."

" Food."

" This is a graveyard," Lori spoke up, repeating my thoughts from earlier. 

No one said a word in response and she sighed, " I don't know how I feel about this."

" Let's just...look around," I said and started to walk towards a group of cars further away. 

Once I got to them I noticed a few dead bodies in the car and I took my knife out, my shotgun was in the RV and besides, I didn't need to waste bullets anyways. 

With my knife at the ready I opened the door and lifted my arm up as I prepared to strike, but none of the bodies moved and I slowly lowered my weapon. 

I made quick work of dragging the bodies out of the car and I began my search. There was nothing of interest in the front of the car but once I moved to the back I found a lot of interesting things. 

I found a bag that I could use as mine had been in the C.D.C., I found a few clothes that looked like they would fit me and I stuffed them in the bag, and then finally I found a journal, and by the looks of it most of the pages were blank, I couldn't help but grin as I stared down at it before putting it in my bag. 

After that I finished searching the cars, it was mostly just clothes I found, but I did manage to scrounge up some batteries and bandages, both of which we desperately needed. 

After a bit more searching I made way back to the RV to drop off everything I had found before heading to the front of the RV where Glenn was working on the Engine.

" You found another one?" I questioned my friend and he nodded, " Thankfully, I just have to get it attached and we should be good to go." 

" Good, and with the gas T is getting hopefully the RV won't break down again." Glenn chuckled at that, " Hopefully."

" Ellie? Glenn? Were we short on water?" Shane's voice called to is and we both turned, seeing him standing next to a truck that had jugs of water in it. 

Me and Glenn shared a look of disbelief as we watched Shane open one, letting the water rush over his head.

Glenn and I started laughing joyously, the delivery boy having a burst of energy as he continued to work. 

" Save us some!" I yelled playfully at Shane who grinned, " It's like being baptized, man."

We continued to laugh, we would have water for weeks! And we didn't even have to boil it first! 

" We should get all of that in the RV," I told Glenn, my grin turning into an almost lazy smile as I leaned back against the vehicle. 

I rested my eyes but the feeling of someone grabbing me forced me to open them. 

My eyes locked onto Shane's, his once cheerful gaze now completely serious as he forced me and Glenn under the RV.

I was about to ask him what the hell he was doing but then I heard them, the growls and the shuffling of feet.

Once I realized what exactly was happening I was quick to drop down on my stomach and slide next to Glenn, watching as Shane got under the car next to us. 

We sat there for I don't know how long, watching as the dead shuffled passed our hiding spot, my hand covering my mouth so that I wouldn't alert them with my breathing. 

I looked to my side and saw how panicked Glenn looked so with my free hand I reached over and gripped his, feeling him squeeze it as he tried to ground himself. 

I tried to stay as calm as possible, knowing that if I slipped up I was as good as Dead. Glenn squeezed my hand again, as if feeling my distress. 

Finally, we watched as what seemed as the final few walkers stumbled forward, and once they were well passed us I let out a shaky breath as I removed my hand from over my mouth. 

I looked across to Shane only to find him staring right back at me, bringing his finger up to his mouth as he indicated to keep quiet, we couldn't risk them coming back. 

All of a sudden I heard faint screaming from up the road and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. 

I wasn't the only one who had heard it and Glenn, Shane, and myself all hurried out from under the cars and stood up, quickly heading up the road to regroup with the others. 

When we got to them the others were all crowded around the guard rail and we figured out quick enough that Sophia had been chased by a walker and my brother had gone after her. 

Carol was in tears and I watched as Lori held her, trying to comfort the scared mother. 

My gaze went back to the guardrail and my body itched to hop it, to follow my brothers trail. It must have been obvious on my face as I then felt someone grab my wrist and I turned to see Glenn shaking his head. 

I sighed and reluctantly leaned back against a nearby car, forcing myself to stay put. 

As we waited no one said anything, the only sound was Dale trying his best to patch T-dog up, the man had been cut on one of the cars and wasn't looking so good. 

Thankfully, no one had to wait much longer as the sound of twigs snapping sounded from the small hill that led down from the guardrail and soon the top of Rick's head could be seen. 

Carol broke free of Lori's arms and Rushed over to my brother as he rejoined us, her gaze looking all around for her missing daughter only to frown when she didn't see her.

" Did you find her? Where is she? Is she okay?" She bombarded Rick with questions but was silenced when he raised his hand. 

" I found her, left her in a safe enough spot, told her how to make her way back up to the highway. I had to make sure the walkers that followed her were dead." He explained, his eyes flickering around, " When I found the spot empty I figured she was here."

Tears filled Carol's eyes once more and soon sobs shook her body, " How could you leave her? She's just a little girl!" She cried at Rick and my brother looked down guiltily, " Im sorry..." He whispered before his gaze flickered back up, " I will do everything in my power to find your little girl." He promised before looking around once more.

" Glenn, Daryl, Shane, Ellie, on me, don't worry Carol, we'll find her." The last part was directed back at the mother. 

I followed my brother to the RV as we grabbed a few things before we started our search. 

I made sure to grab my shotgun before rejoining the others. " We all ready?" Rick asked and the four of us nodded. " Come on, we're burning daylight." He told us. 

As we went back to the guardrail I caught Carl's eye and I gave him a small smile that I hoped was reassuring, I know he was worried about his friend. 

We climbed over the rail and followed my brother to where he had last seen Sophia. 

" You sure this is the spot?" Daryl asked as we looked around. 

I was currently surveying the area, making sure no more stray walkers got the jump on us. 

" I left her right here." Rick said, motioning to the small divot in the hill, " I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek." 

I followed where he was pointing and sighed, with all of the water it was hard to find the start of a trail. 

" Without a paddle, seems where we've landed." I heard Daryl say and a part of me agreed with him. 

" She was gone by the time I got back here, I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her to go that way, and keep the sun on her left shoulder," Rick now pointed in the direction of the highway and I walked towards him.

As Daryl berated Glenn for almost mucking up what little trail we had Shane let out a tiny scoff, " Assuming she knows her left from her right."

" Shane, she understood me fine." Rick assured him but Shane just shook his head, " Kid's tired and scared, man. She had a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck."

" Shane, let's just try and be a little optimistic here." I said to my friend and he looked at me. 

" Im sorry Ellie, but we have to be realistic here, you know more than anyone how missing child cases usually turn out-" " Shane." I cut him off, my eyes narrowing at him but he kept going. 

" what was that kid's name? Tommy right?" " Shane enough!" My tone was harsh as I glared at him and he seemed to have realized what he had said and shut his mouth. 

How dare he bring that up, he knows how fucked up I was after that case, so the fact that he-

" Got clear tracks right here, she did as you said, headed back to the highway." My train of thought was cut off by Daryl pointing out what he had found. " Let's spread out, make our way back to the highway"

We followed Daryl and I was caught by surprise by Shane holding his hand out to me. " We're gonna find her, she'll be tuckered out hiding in a bush somewhere." He told me, it was his own way of saying he was sorry and the corner of my lip quirked up as I let him help me up. 

We made our way through the forest until Daryl knelt down to look at something, " She was doing just fine till right here, all she had to do was keep going."

He glanced to his right and pointed briefly, " She veered off that way."

" Why would she do that?" Glenn questioned and I looked to him, wishing I had the answer.

" Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off." Shane offered and Glenn was quick to assume it was a walker. 

" I don't see any other footprints, just hers." Daryl told him and I sighed, " So where does this leave us?" I asked and Rick ran a hand through his hair. 

" I think, you, Shane, and Glenn should head back up to the highway, people are gonna start panicking. Let him know we're on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everyone calm. " Rick told us the plan and I wanted to argue, I didn't want to leave Rick but I knew it was our best idea so I kept quiet. 

Shane scratched his neck and nodded, " I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars, think up a few other chores, I'll keep 'em occupied." Shane assured and motioned for Glenn and I to follow him.

With one last look at my brother we took off towards the highway.


End file.
